Through the Shadows
by The Silent Scream
Summary: A figure made of shadow she can't properly see and the pain it brings are haunting Pat, but as the gang works on finding out what is happening to her, none of them knows that a much bigger threat is right around the corner, endangering the very core of the demon's being. Willow / OC est. relationship, rating for violence and cursing.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Happy Easter everyone! Here we go with yet another fic – time to give a certain demon some backstory, so I hope you'll enjoy it :)

Disclaimer: None of the characters of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer used in this are mine.

* * *

Through the Shadows

"And then, I hit her really hard, like, one, two, bamm bamm straight in the face!" the young vampire, only just sired a few weeks ago, proudly told his small audience of three, vampires like him, "you should have seen me, I was on a total roll!"

"So did you kill her?" the only female in his audience wanted to know, looking at him with something akin to worship in her yellow eyes, "and drink her dry? I heard Slayers taste supergood…"

"You bet I did", the guy gave back, nodding proudly, "you should have been there, I would have let you taste her."

"What did it taste like?" one of the guys wanted to know, "was it really different to normal blood? Was it sweeter or something?"

"I'd like to know that, too", a second female voice came up behind the storyteller before he could give an answer, and he turned around, startled, just in time to see the fist come flying at him, hitting him right in the jaw hard enough to send him tumbling off the gravestone he had been perching on while he had been telling his little tale.

"Because I hardly ever taste my own blood", the petite blonde who had punched him went on, smiling sweetly at him while seemingly out of nowhere, a stake appeared in her right hand, "and I like the thought of it being special."

"You lied to us!" the girl cried out as she hurriedly got to her feet with her two vampiric companions, "you bastard! Come on guys, let's get outta here!"

She turned away from the Slayer to do just that, just in time to get the crossbow bolt right into her chest; her eyes went wide as she glanced down on it, hearing her two male buddies gasp before the fact that her heart had been hit was registered and she turned into a pile of dust, prompting the two other vampires to take a step back as their gaze fell on the woman who had shot, a sardonic smirk on her face as she lowered the crossbow.

"Good shot, Pat", Buffy complimented her, punching the vampire who had been telling exaggerated stories about her demise yet again when he tried to get up, then staking him quickly and efficiently while the demon was already loading the crossbow again, prompting the two remaining vampires to glance from the blonde at her and back to the Slayer nervously.

"Look", the taller one then said, shifting nervously from one foot to the other, "we didn't believe him anyway. And, uh, if you could just let us go, uh, I suppose we could start living off pig's blood or something, I mean, we just got turned a few weeks ago, it'd suck if we got killed now…"

"Yeah, it'd suck", Pat agreed amiably – before she pulled the trigger yet again and shot him in the chest, as well, causing his smaller companion to let out a startled gasp, any other noises he might have been planning to make cut off by the stake Buffy rammed into his heart through his back.

"What a bunch of losers", Buffy shook her head, dusting off the stake before she tucked it back into her belt, "vampires aren't what they used to be anymore."

"Or we just got that good by now", the taller woman confidently smirked, making her friend giggle slightly as she nodded; the two exchanged another smile, then Pat slung the crossbow over her shoulder so it dangled down her back, nodding when Buffy asked her if she wanted to make another round through the cemetery.

"Just to make sure we didn't miss any of those wussy vampires", she then added, making the blonde giggle yet again; she still took the time to light up a cigarette, then got moving with Buffy again, the two chatting amiably as they walked side by side, knowing that, if any vampires would hear them, they'd most likely come rushing by to attack and would make getting rid of them much easier.

"So", Buffy wanted to know after rather mindless small-talk for a while, "Willow's approaching her first PhD. How's she doing?"

"Quite fine", Pat let her know, the blonde holding back the urge to giggle at the slightly dreamy smile which had appeared on the taller woman's face after the mere mentioning of her girlfriend's name, "she has her moments of freaking out, of course, but her dissertation is really going well, even though I'm not sure I understand what it's about whenever she reads some of it to me. Or when I check for spelling errors."

"As if she'd ever make any", Buffy giggled, prompting the demon to nod; she just opened her mouth to say something in reply when movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, a frown creasing her brow when she glanced over and spotted nothing out of the ordinary.

"What is it?" Buffy claimed to know next to her, a hint of alarm in her voice – by now, she knew the taller woman well enough to be aware of the fact that sometimes, her senses and instincts worked much better than those of a human, honed to incredible sharpness by centuries of being an assassin.

"…nothing", the black haired woman told her after a moment, "just thought I'd seen something. Must have been a shadow or something."

"Let's hope you're right", Buffy mumbled in reply, glancing around, "because in Sunnydale, 'a shadow or something' often turns out to be something deadly."

"I'm sure it was nothing", Pat reassured her, a bit surprised by this worried reaction, "probably just the leaves of the tree over there moving in the breeze. And, I believe I hear a vampire up ahead."

This was enough to distract Buffy from her worries as she listened closely, quickly realizing that the demon was right; she nodded and raised one finger to her lips, signalling at her to keep quiet, then both of them started to sneak towards the direction the noises were coming from, the fight which erupted with said vampire just a minute later successfully pushing the Slayer's concerns out of her mind.

* * *

When Pat came home shortly after two o'clock in the morning, she was expecting to find Willow fast asleep, already prepared to move as quietly as possible so she wouldn't end up waking her partner; instead, she found Willow on the couch, hunched over her laptop, a look of fierce concentration on her face as she was typing with that speed which always stunned her girlfriend, clearly not even having noticed her entering.

Not sure if she should say something or not, since she didn't want to startle her, Pat just stood there for a while and watched her, still unnoticed; and she used that time well, taking in the small crease which always formed between the redhead's eyes whenever she thought so hard, the way she'd absent-mindedly reach for a by now surely lukewarm can of soda next to her every now and then and took a drink from it, only to lick her lips afterwards, the mere sight being enough to fire the demon up after a night of slaying.

Figuring that there was one way which would gain Willow's attention without startling her, the demon lit up a cigarette, then just smoked in silence and kept smoking; and just as expected, it didn't take long until the redhead sniffed audibly, then looked up with her frown deepening, only to smile the second her gaze met her partner's.

"You're back", she then stated the obvious, forgetting her laptop immediately as she came to her feet and moved to embrace the taller woman, her smile widening when immediately, the hug was returned, albeit one-armed, "how long have you been standing there?"

"Quite some time", Pat teased her in reply, then bent down to kiss her tenderly, the kiss soon turning quite heated though, making it obvious to Willow that the patrol had been rather successful.

"That's the way I like to be greeted", the witch mumbled after they had pulled apart again, a shiver running up and down her spine when she felt the demon's hands slide beneath her oversized, comfortable shirt and come to a tender rest on her bare back.

"I should hope so", Pat smirked, "it'd worry me if that was any different. But actually, I was expecting you to be asleep by now."

"I guess I should be", Willow sighed, glancing at the clock guiltily, "but, well, the work on my thesis was going so well, and I kinda lost track of time."

"No surprise there", the demon gave back, her fingers now tenderly caressing the smaller woman's back and making her shiver yet again, "but I know just how to make you tired."

"You do?" Willow feigned ignorance, unable to hold back a smile though, "and just how would you accomplish that?"

In response, Pat made her squeal by moving her hands downwards with surprising speed, then picked her up, prompting her to wrap her legs around the taller woman's waist out of pure reflex; she had a moment to wonder if it wouldn't be smarter to switch off the laptop first, then she was already carried to the bedroom, those thoughts soon forgotten as the demon lowered her on the bed and kissed her yet again, not even trying to hold back her obvious lust and passion anymore.

* * *

"Wow", Willow sighed out quite some time later, a blissful smile on her face as she snuggled up to the taller woman, said smile widening when she immediately was taken into a tender embrace, one of the demon's hands moving up to caress her hair afterwards, "slaying really must have gone well."

"Oh, it did", Pat gave back at once, shifting slightly on the pillow to get into a more comfortable position, pulling the witch closer again once she had accomplished that, "we actually managed to sneak up on a vampire telling an interesting tale about how he bested Buffy and drank her blood. It was really quite hilarious."

"I can imagine", Willow giggled, shaking her head, "and they had no idea you were there and listening to his little tale?"

"Not until Buffy punched the lying sack of shit", the demon smirked, rolling her good eye when at once, Willow reprimanded her with the usual "language"; the redhead briefly smiled at her, then propped herself up one elbow so she could bend over her and kiss her tenderly, a content sigh escaping her when immediately, she felt one of the taller woman's hands move to her neck and caress the sensitive skin there tenderly.

"Be careful", she mumbled after pulling back from the kiss, still hovering over her partner, "or you'll get me all worked up again."

"And that would be a bad thing why?" the demon wanted to know, managing to sound endearingly innocent; at a loss for words, all Willow could do was shrug, not really able to come up with an answer.

With her smirk widening slightly, Pat pulled her closer to herself yet again, kissing her deeply moments later; giving in to the lust which welled up within her again as she felt the taller woman's hand slide down her back, the redhead once more allowed herself to forget everything around her as she focused on her partner, glad that she could sleep in the next morning and that no alarm clock would tear her out of her slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

In the next morning, for once, Pat was the first one to wake up, Willow still slumbering soundly next to her; this made the demon smirk slightly, since usually, the witch woke up before she did if there was no alarm clock to interrupt their dreams, the fact that she still was fast asleep showing her how much she had tired her out the night before.

_Not that she complained, _the black haired woman thought to herself as she carefully got out of bed, giving her best to move quietly, not wanting to wake her partner up; she took another moment to study the sleeping redhead, a warm smile curling her lips, before she moved to the kitchen, still making sure to keep the noise level down to a minimum as she started preparing the coffee machine, then located her cigarettes and lit one of them up after she had switched the machine on, watching how the black liquid slowly started to run through, her mouth watering at the mere thought of the coffee which soon would be done.

Just as she brought the cigarette up to her mouth again though, something in the corner of her good eye caught her attention, a vaguely humanoid shape moving in the corner of the kitchen; with her instincts kicking in, and remembering that she had seen something similar the night before at the cemetery, the demon spun around, fists already raised, ready to fight whichever being had been stupid enough to invade the apartment of a demon and her partner, one of the most powerful witches of the country, if not even the world.

To her dismay though, she found herself alone in an empty room, momentarily feeling a bit stupid; shaking her head to herself, she took a moment to rub at her good eye, asking herself if perhaps, the fact she just had woken up could be blamed for what she had seen, then allowed herself to relax again, making a mental note to tell Willow about this as soon as she'd be up – after all, it was the second time she had seen this shadow from the corner of her eye, and in Sunnydale, this probably didn't mean a good thing.

Sighing to herself, asking herself what this thing now was and why they never could have more than a week or two of peace – after all, the Shapeshifters they had dealt with as their last big adventure only had left sixteen days ago – Pat moved over to the coffee machine as it got done and poured herself a cup of the hot liquid; and just as she brought it up to her mouth after pouring in her usual rather high amount of sugar and stirring, sharp pain flashed through her brain, startling and hurting her enough to prompt her into letting out a small yelp, the cup sliding from her grasp and falling to the floor where it shattered noisily, coffee splashing everywhere.

Moments later, hurried footsteps approached the kitchen while the demon clutched at her head with both hands, groaning; and then, Willow was there and by her side, hugging her and asking her what was wrong, the alarmed and concerned sound of her voice touching the black haired woman despite the pain which still was pulsing through her head, in perfect sync with her heartbeat.

"Headache", she managed to press out between grit teeth, the pain by now so intense that stars were exploding in her field of vision, "ow, fuck, what the Hell!"

Not sure what she could do to help, all Willow could think of was rubbing her back soothingly, racking her mind for any healing spells she might know – before she remembered the pack of painkillers they had in the bathroom, but just as she straightened up to get it, the pain vanished as fast as it had begun, leaving the demon to blink in confusion, the way she relaxed at once making it obvious to the witch that her partner had gotten better again.

"Wow", Pat mumbled, running one hand through her hair, cautious, almost expecting the pain to come back any moment, "that was… intense."

"Poor you", Willow showed some sympathy, leading her to the nearest chair, making sure neither of them would step onto any of the shards the coffee cup had been reduced to when the taller woman had dropped it, "have you ever had this before?"

"No", the demon grumbled as she sat down, taking a nervous drag of her cigarette afterwards, "in fact, I hardly ever get headaches. Usually just if someone hits me in the head."

"And I suppose no one hit you in the head", Willow gave back, glancing around as if she expected an assailant to pop up; letting out a sigh, the taller woman shook her head, making her look at her again, prompting her to choose her next words wisely since she didn't want to freak the witch out.

"No, no one hit me", she reassured her, "but… Well, I don't even know how to say this without sounding dumb, but yesterday at the cemetery and today, just before the headache started, I… saw something."

"You saw something?" the witch echoed, not sure what to think of this, "what?"

"I'm not sure", the demon sighed, giving her a dismayed look, "I just saw it from the corner of my eye, it was… some kind of shadow. Yesterday I thought it was just a moving tree or something, and this morning, that it came from just getting up minutes before it happened, but then the headache started, and, well… We are in Sunnydale…"

"Good point", Willow had to admit, "did you see it well enough to describe it better?"

"It looked vaguely humanoid, I think", Pat let her know, "but when I looked at it directly, it was gone, so I'm not really sure."

"We should look this up", the witch decided in reply, "maybe look for hauntings, or demons which take on this form… Should we ask Giles?"

"I'd like to say now that this isn't necessary", the taller woman grumbled, "but, considering I saw it twice now and that it gave me a massive headache… I don't think that's a coincidence, so yeah, we should ask him."

"Just when we thought there'd finally be some peace and quiet", Willow sighed, moving to sit in her partner's lap and smiling slightly again when immediately, Pat put both arms around her, "I guess we'll never have more than a few weeks of no action in our lives in a row, huh?"

"Seems so", the taller woman agreed with a sigh of her own, "but maybe, we'll be lucky for once and it'll be solved easy."

Even though she wasn't all too sure about that, Willow nodded, then bent down to kiss her partner tenderly and hopefully reassuringly; and afterwards, they both pushed the incident to the back of their mind and focused on preparing and having breakfast together, giving their best not to worry about the new challenge which might lie ahead of them.

* * *

"This is quite worrying", Giles told Willow over the phone an hour later, after the witch had explained what had happened to her partner, "I'll look into this right after we end this call."

"You really think it's that bad?" Willow wanted to know, frowning while Pat moved closer to her and embraced her from behind, straining to hear what the Watcher was saying, "I mean, she just saw this shadow…thing and then she got a headache."

"It might not be as serious as I think now", Giles let her know in response, and she could almost hear how he took off his glasses and started cleaning them, "but I still want to look into this quickly. With the information we have so far, this might be a number of apparitions and creatures, and I'm afraid none of them are all too kind."

"Figures", Willow sighed, smiling again though when she heard Pat let out a low snort behind her, making it clear that she had heard what Giles had said, as well, "can you give us a bit more information? So we can start looking into it as well?"

"It could be a curse", Giles let her know in reply, making both Pat and her frown, "or a vengeful spirit. Possibly also just a random ghost which haunts the first place it finds. Or something sent by another entity, there are several demons which use shadow type creatures as their minions and familiars."

"I've already been cursed once", Pat grumbled under her breath, "isn't that enough?"

"Not that it's so much of a curse anymore, right?" Willow pointed out to her, prompting Giles to let out a vaguely questioning noise and quickly making her tell him that she had been talking to her partner.

"We'll look into it", she then let him know, "and call you as soon as we find anything."

"I will do the same", Giles promised her in reply, "and… try not to be too concerned, I am confident that we will solve this quickly."

"We always do", Willow agreed, "and thanks." The Brit reassured her that it was no problem, then asked her if she needed anything else; and after she had reassured him that she didn't and had said goodbye, she hung up the phone and turned in her partner's embrace, giving her an unhappy look as she glanced up at her.

"So, a number of options, and none of them all too pleasing", she then sighed, prompting the black haired woman to tighten her embrace around her, "I really don't like the thought of anyone cursing you or sending shadow-creature-minions after you…"

"Neither do I", the demon had to admit, "especially since we have no idea who might be behind this. And, well, if we're honest, the possibilities aren't exactly limited…"

"I know", Willow had to admit, looking even more dismayed than she had a minute ago; usually, she was usually quite good about ignoring the things her partner had done before she had come to Sunnydale and they had found each other, just like the rest of the group, all of them holding the view that by now, the demon had more than redeemed herself for her past, having helped with saving the world quite a few times after all, but just like when a deranged madman had been after her for killing his mother, she found it hard to ignore her bloody past now, as well.

"I'm sorry", Pat sighed, demonstrating once more how well she read her partner by now, "and I wish I could tell you this is the last time someone comes after me with a desire for vengeance, but…" She trailed off, not wanting to add what still was on her mind – namely that she had killed hundreds of people before Sunnydale and the relationship with the witch, doing it for a living and to satisfy the need for violence caused by her demonic nature.

"Maybe it's not someone who's after you personally, though", Willow pointed out after a moment, remembering this little bit of information Giles had given her, "but just some random haunting. Who knows?"

"Yeah, who knows", the demon mumbled, "but I guess we both know how slim the chances for that are…"

"…yes", Willow had to admit, "I know…" Holding back another sigh, she snuggled up to the taller woman, resting her head against her chest, letting her heartbeat soothe her a bit; holding her close to herself, Pat started caressing her back once more, her voice down to a low rumble when she spoke up again.

"Whatever it is, this time, I won't let you get hurt again. Not like when Piretti was after you", she promised, making the redhead smile slightly with how protective she was of her, "I'm not gonna leave you out of my sight until we solved this."

"Even when I have to go to college?" Willow wanted to know with a smile, trying to lighten the mood a bit after the not so good news they had gotten from Giles; it didn't surprise her that immediately, Pat shook her head, then told her "Not even then", prompting the smaller woman to giggle slightly, the demon smirking a moment later, as well.

"Don't you laugh", she then said, waggling a finger at her, "I mean it. I'm gonna lurk around at campus all day long. Just wait and see."

"I don't doubt that", Willow giggled, standing on the tips of her toes to press a quick, but gentle kiss on her cheek, "but just make sure no one reports you as suspicious, or starts thinking you're stalking me."

"Nah", the demon gave back, confident, "I can lurk without anyone noticing. Experience, remember? Also, don't a lot of the people know we're together anyway?"

"True", Willow agreed, moving one hand to play with a few strands of the taller woman's hair, "and it's not like you're hard to recognize. Did you know that some of the students are scared of you?"

"If that keeps them from hitting on you, fine with me", Pat shrugged, making her partner laugh once more; she shook her head, then pulled the demon down for a tender kiss, closing her eyes as it deepened, giving her best to keep her worries about whatever might be after her partner at bay, telling herself that surely, they would find out everything there was to know about this soon and that no harm would come to the woman she loved.


	3. Chapter 3

"So your better half is gonna lurk around here all day long?" Buffy asked with a giggle as she walked to the lecture hall with her best friend, glancing around curiously, "where is she, then?"

"Dunno", Willow gave back, glancing around, "probably trying to be inconspicuous. I told her that she should be careful so no one would report her for suspicious behaviour…"

"I'm not surprised she's taking such drastic measures this time", Buffy commented, looking around as well, but finding herself unable to spot the black haired woman, "seeing how this crazy guy came after all of us the last time someone wanted her dead… Did Giles figure out by now what it is?"

"No", Willow sighed, "and unfortunately, Pat couldn't really help with that, she saw it again yesterday, but again just from the corner of her eye, and when she tried to take a closer look, it was gone. At least, it didn't give her a headache this time though…"

"I guess that's something", Buffy nodded, "but I'd feel even better if we knew what exactly this thing is."

"Me too", Willow agreed at once, "Pat's taking it rather easy so far, but I'm worried. What if this thing is really dangerous? And just… charging up or something to do some real damage?"

"I'm sure Giles will figure something out", Buffy tried to reassure her, reaching out and patting her arm tenderly, "no worries, you know how good he is with such stuff. He even figured out the whole demon messes we had to deal with lately. And the shapeshifter thing, remember, the shards?"

"Yes, of course", the redhead nodded, "but still, I'm worried. I mean, what if some sort of shadow demon thing comes after her and it can hurt her, but she can't even see it? How are we supposed to fight such a thing? And from what she told me, if it wasn't a coincidence, it didn't even need to be there to give her a migraine from Hell."

"Maybe we're lucky for once and it was a coincidence", Buffy hazarded, "even though, on second thought, having blinding headaches out of nowhere coincidentally isn't an all too calming thought, either."

"Not really", Willow sighed, running one hand through her hair, "cause that could point to all kind of horrendous things."

Nodding, Buffy gave her a sympathetic look, feeling sorry for her best friend and the demon; after all, there had been more than enough action in their lives the last few months, and she had been hoping for a bit more peace before things would get all dramatic and complicated again.

"But no matter what", she tried to give some reassurance again, hopefully with more success this time and without putting thoughts of brain tumours and other nastiness into her best friend's mind, "we'll figure this out, and it'll be okay. Oh, and there's your girlfriend."

Giggling, she nodded to the right, prompting Willow to glance into that direction, a giggle coming from her as well when she spotted her partner, the taller woman casually leaning against the wall next to a lecture hall, as if she was waiting for someone, winking at her as she walked by, ignoring the looks the other students were giving her, ranging from curious to mildly uncomfortable.

"You know", Willow smiled as they moved into the lecture hall together, "I wasn't sure she'd really pull this off when she said she wouldn't let me out of her sight, but apparently, she meant it."

"I'm not surprised", Buffy shrugged, "after what happened when that Piretti was after her, that was pretty bad for all of us…"

Nodding again, the redhead thought of how bad exactly it had been, of how Piretti had tried to shoot Buffy, had blown up the home of Xander and Anya and had beaten her badly enough to send her to the hospital; and in the end, he nearly had killed her partner after all, the witch not even wanting to ponder the spell he had put on her in the moment of his death for a second, still remembering the unpleasant consequences it had had all too well.

"She felt really bad about this yesterday, you know", the witch now went on, "about how her past keeps catching up with her that way…"

"It surely would be easier if she hadn't had… that particular job before she came here", Buffy had to admit, "but we all know she more than made up for what she did, I mean, she helped save the world how often by now, a dozen times? That should be worth something, right?"

"You know it is in my eyes", Willow gave back at once, "and I know it is for you guys, too… But apparently not for whoever it is who is after her now."

"Apparently", Buffy sighed, finding an empty seat and taking it; sitting down next to her, the witch nodded her agreement, then the professor entered the lecture hall and prompted her to get out her textbook, the redhead giving her best to focus for the next fifty minutes, even though her mind kept drifting off to her partner and the new threat they were facing, the unpleasant feeling that what they had seen so far was just the beginning constantly nagging at her.

* * *

"Surprise", a deep and hoarse voice whispered into her ear from behind as she sat down for lunch, making her flinch – before she shook her head and turned in her seat enough so she could look at Pat, a twinkle in her green eyes as she replied. "Not really, I've spotted you before. But you'll be pleased to hear that nothing out of the ordinary happened when you weren't around."

"Oh, I was around", the demon reassured her with a smirk while she sat down at the table, as well, "just because you didn't see me, doesn't mean I wasn't there. I didn't see the thing again though, either, so maybe it's gone."

"That'd be too good to be true", Willow sighed, then smiled as the taller woman leaned over for a tender kiss; not caring who might be around to watch, she responded to the kiss, smiling at her partner afterwards, reaching over the table to grasp her hand as she spoke up again. "It's good to know you're around though, just in case anything happens… Who knows what this thing is and what it really wants."

"Uh-huh", the demon let out a vaguely agreeing noise, smiling slightly when Willow squeezed her hand tenderly, "as you said, it'd be too good to be true if it was just gone now. Shouldn't you be eating lunch, by the way?"

"The presence of my wonderful girlfriend distracted me", Willow teased in response, making the taller woman chuckle – before she snatched one of the redhead's French fries from her plate and munched it down, smirking when the witch shot her a disapproving look.

"What?" the demon then asked, leaning back into the seat comfortably, "don't wanna share with your wonderful… girlfriend…" She trailed off as she spotted the strange shadow from the corner of her eye again, the way she tensed up immediately telling Willow that something was amiss; keeping her voice low so the people around wouldn't hear her, she asked if she was seeing it again, earning a barely visible nod in reply.

"It's just hovering there", Pat then mumbled, fighting down the urge to look directly at the thing, knowing it would just be gone again then, "I wonder if—"

The pain shot through her head like a bright lance, a low groan involuntarily escaping her as she doubled over; dimly, she heard Willow call out her name, then the pain, impossibly, became even worse, the black haired woman not even fully noticing how she ended up falling off the chair and crashing to the ground, groaning through grit teeth as she laid there, clutching her head.

"Pat!" Willow cried out, getting up from her chair so fast that she nearly made it fall over and rushing to her partner's side; upon kneeling down next to her and, with a dreadful feeling of helplessness, pulling her into an embrace, her heart clenched up even further when she saw the blood practically gushing from the taller woman's nostrils.

"Someone call an ambulance!" she heard someone in the crowd of startled, watching students call out, then the demon let out a low groan, clutching at her head even tighter, tears now spilling from her good eye as the pain was getting too much to handle; and then, just as fast as it had started, it ended again, as if someone had flicked a switch in her brain and had simply turned it off.

"…I'm okay", Pat brought out in a hoarse voice after a few breathless moments of waiting if the pain would come back, struggling to sit up, grimacing at the feeling of blood still dripping from her nose, even though the flow had lessened considerably, "I'm okay, it stopped again…"

"Again?" one of the members of the small crowd which, to her dismay, had formed around her, wanted to know, giving her a concerned look, briefly making her wonder why he seemed to care since she couldn't recall knowing him, "if you have those regularly, you should go see a doctor."

"I will", the black haired woman mumbled, then shot her partner a brief, but pleading look; getting the hint, Willow helped her to her feet, then wrapped one arm around her waist to make sure she wouldn't end up falling down again, giving her a worried look as she asked her in a low voice if she was sure she should be standing up already.

"Yes", the demon grumbled in reply, glancing at the people staring at her in concern, "just get me outta here. I don't like how they're all concerned and worried."

"Better than ignoring you", Willow pointed out as she started leading her partner to the exit, figuring that some fresh air couldn't hurt; someone was thoughtful enough to pass her a napkin, and she handed it over to Pat, prompting the taller woman to wipe the blood off her upper lip and chin, grimacing at how soaked the napkin was once she got done.

"This is bad", she then sighed, throwing the bloodied napkin into the nearest trash can as they stepped out of the cafeteria hall, "when it happened the first time, it didn't take quite so long until the pain stopped again. And it didn't make me bleed."

"We really need to find out what might be causing this", Willow let her know in reply, leading her to the nearest bench and making her sit down there, giving her a disapproving glance when she dug out her cigarettes, but not saying anything.

"Did you see that… shadow thing again before the pain started?" she asked instead, sitting down next to her; nodding, Pat gave her another unhappy glance, lighting up her cigarette with the lighter Willow had given her as an anniversary present several years ago, not daring to flame up in such a public place, then taking a long drag of the smoke before she spoke up again.

"Yeah, I did… I avoided looking at it directly, cause it always seems to vanish then", she explained, "but apparently, avoiding to look at it doesn't help."

"Obviously", Willow had to admit, giving her another concerned look while she reached out and grasped her hand.

"I'm worried", she went on, giving the taller woman's hand a tender squeeze, "what if this gets worse?"

"We'll just have to find out what's going on before it has a chance to get worse", Pat gave back, giving her best to sound confident since she didn't want to increase her girlfriend's concerns by letting her notice how much this was freaking her out, the mere thought of that horrid pain starting up in her head again making her break out in cold sweat, "I'm sure Giles is already working on it."

"Giles!" Willow nearly cried out in reply, making the demon flinch, "I can't believe I didn't think of this right away! I'll call him!" And with those words, she already dug out her phone while Pat took another long drag of her cigarette, holding back a snarky comment about how yelling like that near someone who'd just had a massive attack of the headaches maybe wasn't such a good idea; instead, she simply watched how the redhead dug out her cell phone, then flipped it open and quickly dialled the Watcher's number, slight anxiety on her face as she waited for the elder man to take the call.

"Giles, hey, it's me", she greeted him half a minute later, glad that he had been at home after all, "I know we only just talked about this, but… you didn't happen to find anything out yet, right?"

"Nothing definite, no", the Watcher let her know, her dismay showing on her face enough to make it Pat's turn to squeeze her hand tenderly, "why are you asking? Did it happen again?"

"Yes", the redhead sighed, giving her lover another unhappy look, "and it was worse this time. She even got a nose bleed and it lasted longer than the first time."

"This is quite concerning indeed", Giles let her know, not really helping to calm her down, "I'll try to speed up my research, but as you know, these things often take time…"

"Yes, I know", Willow sighed, then glanced at her watch before she went on. "I have one more class I can't skip", she told the Watcher, "then we'll head right to your place and help."

"I'll be expecting you then", the Brit gave back, prompting her to let out a vaguely agreeing noise; then, she said her goodbye and ended the call, looking at her partner afterwards, immediately making the taller woman tell her that she'd come along the moment their eyes met.

"Maybe we'll find something faster if we all work together", she then added, still giving her best to sound confident, "you know we'll figure this out. We always do."

"Yes", Willow had to admit, smiling slightly when the taller woman ditched her cigarette, then reached up with her now free hand and caressed her cheek tenderly, her voice down to a low murmur when she went on.

"It'll be okay", she reassured her girlfriend, the redhead almost automatically leaning into her gentle touch, forgetting the world around her, "I promise. We'll figure this out, put an end to it, and it'll be okay. And until then, I can handle the headaches."

"As long as they don't get worse", Willow gave back, shrugging when the demon gave her a strict look in reply.

"What?" she then wanted to know, feigning innocence, "we both know you're kinda thick-headed, but you have your limits, too."

"I am not thick-headed", Pat protested at once, making the witch giggle since she had known that this was exactly how the other woman would react, "I resent that."

"Sure you do", Willow mumbled, then silenced her with a tender kiss before she could voice more protest; and once again, she forgot about the world around them as the kiss deepened, regret filling her when she finally had to pull back, still rational enough to remember that she had one more class to attend before she could leave the campus.

"I better get going", she thus mumbled, glancing at her watch again, "or I'll be late for class."

"And we don't want that", the demon said so solemnly that it made her partner giggle again, "I'll go find a washroom in the meantime and wash up. Meet you at the gate after class?"

"Yes", Willow agreed at once, then took the time to quickly, but tenderly kiss her once more before she got up from the bench and made her way to the lecture hall where her class would be held while the taller woman went to find a washroom, both of them barely able to wait for the moment they'd meet again and hopefully find a solution for the demon's predicament.


	4. Chapter 4

"We can definitely rule out a malevolent spell", Giles told the couple the moment they had arrived there, with Buffy in tow, the Slayer having heard of what had happened in the cafeteria thanks to the campus grapevine and having insisted on coming, too, "I even checked with the coven in England when I found nothing in my books, they have never heard of such magic."

"Well that's calming", Pat mumbled, exchanging a look with her partner, "so we can assume it's no one hexing me for revenge, right? Then what is it?"

"It could be a vengeful spirit", Giles let her know, "by one of… well, one of your former victims. Or, as I pointed out before, a random ghost or demon, just feeding off the first source it found."

"Charming", the demon grumbled, "so what now? How do we find out what exactly it is if we can't even speak to it?"

"We're here to find out now", Giles let her know, smiling slightly as he handed her a thick, old book; upon opening it, she sighed at the tiny print, grumbling under her breath about how those authors never had any consideration for one-eyed people, the rest of the group by now so used to her quiet rants about this topic that they simply ignored her, accepting the books Giles kept handing out.

"Wait", Buffy spoke up before they all could start reading though, "I know this might be a bad time to bring this up, and that you really won't like to hear that, Pat, but… Perhaps it'll be best if you don't go along on patrol for a while…?"

"Buffy's right", Willow agreed before the demon could even try to protest, "what if you get one of those headaches during a fight? That might end badly."

"And it might be just what this thing wants", Giles added, once again keeping the black haired woman from speaking, "to render you immobile during a fight and cause you grievous harm… or even get you killed."

"I really don't like to hear that", the demon grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, and prompting her partner to reach over and place a calming hand on her shoulder, "but, well, even though I like admitting it even less, I suppose you're right. I'd be quite the risk in a battle with the constant danger of another headache hitting."

"Those headaches must be really bad", Buffy showed some concern, giving her a worried look, "seeing how fast you just gave in."

"Trust me, they are", Pat sighed, earning yet another concerned look from both the Slayer and her girlfriend, "so we better figure this out fast."

And with those words, she opened up the book, prompting the others to do the same; Willow took another moment to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly, silently telling her that it would be alright, then focused on her book as well, the only noise in the room soon being the sound of pages being turned as they all searched for a solution together.

* * *

"Well, that was pointless", Pat grumbled hours later as they were walking back to their apartment, lighting up a cigarette while Willow had to nod her agreement, "I wish we at least could have narrowed it down."

"We just don't know enough about that thing", the witch had to admit, "but Giles said he'll contact the coven again, maybe they'll have found something by now…"

"Hopefully", the taller woman sighed, grasping the smaller woman's hand with her free one after putting the lighter back into her pocket, "honestly, just the thought of such a headache coming out of nowhere again gives me a migraine. Annoying."

"Maybe that's part of why this thing is doing this to you", Willow mumbled thoughtfully, giving her an unhappy look, "so you'd end up being scared of getting one of these headaches the whole time? That might turn into a crippling fear…"

"Not for me", Pat reassured her at once, "I'm not that wigged by those headaches. I can handle them, as I said."

Clearly not as sure about that, Willow gave her a sceptical look, the demon quickly distracting her though from asking her how sure she was about this by bending down and kissing her; afterwards, they continued walking, the taller woman looking relieved as they arrived at their apartment – the last thing she needed was to have another one of those headaches in public and gain so much attention again.

"I just wanna lie down on the couch now", she told her partner as they made their way to the second floor and to their apartment, "and get some rest. All that reading made me tired."

"I know it puts quite the strain on your eye", the redhead showed some sympathy again, digging out her keys as she spoke and unlocking the apartment door, "should I get—"

"Don't even think about suggesting eyedrops", Pat warned, making the redhead giggle slightly; she gave her a mock scolding look, then they both took off their shoes and jacket and moved into the living room, and that was when the taller woman froze as she spotted the shadow from the corner of her eye again, briefly freaked out about how fast it had come back this time.

"It's here", she still had time to say, "Willow, it's…" And then the blinding pain hit her right in the middle of her brain and she stumbled, going down to her knees moments later and clutching at her head with both hands, a low groan escaping her through grit teeth while her nose started bleeding again, Willow crying out her name as she rushed to her side.

"Oh God", the demon brought out, trembling in the embrace the redhead had pulled her into, "God that hurts…"

She grit her teeth so hard that the witch could actually hear them gnashing against each other as the pain intensified even more, growing big enough to cause bright stars to explode in the taller woman's field of vision; she groaned again, a groan which might have been a scream, hadn't she given her best to hold just that back, Willow just holding her as she shivered in her arms, hating how helpless all of this was making her feel.

With her mind racing at high speed, she tried to come up with a spell, anything which would help her partner; briefly she thought about suggesting that she should demon out, remembering her heightened healing abilities in her demonic state, then realized that it wouldn't do much good if the pain was caused by some supernatural entity and not by something wrong with her body.

_Come on_, she told herself as she kept holding the groaning and shivering demon close, unsettled by how long the pain was tormenting her by now, longer than it had lasted before, _there must be something, some healing spell…_

With a pang of regret, she had to realize that she had quite neglected the art of healing and restoration spells ever since they had found out how Pat could borrow her healing abilities to another person; now, she could have kicked herself for this, telling herself that she'd look up pain-numbing and restorative spells as soon as this had been resolved, just to be on the safe side.

"Make it stop", the demon now pressed out between grit teeth, distracting her from those ponderings, "please, make it stop…"

Briefly closing her eyes, the witch concentrated in reply, telling herself that surely, she could use her powers to simply soothe the pain, even if she didn't know an actual spell to do so; she gave her best to remain calm as she tenderly took the demon's head into her hands, mumbling soothing words under her breath as she focused on the energies within herself, imagining how they ran through her partner's mind and took her pain away.

To her relief, it didn't take long until a warm, golden glow flickered, then formed around her hands; and not long after the glow had started to shine so brightly that she nearly had to look away, she could feel Pat relax considerably, a shuddery mix of groan and sigh coming from her a few moments later, her good eye slowly opening until she was looking up at the witch.

"Thanks", she brought out in a slightly trembling voice, this showing the witch more than enough about how bad her pain had been – after all, she had seen the demon get hurt countless times by now, and never there had been such a tremor in her voice afterwards.

"Nothing to thank me for", Willow reassured her, still holding her close with one arm while she dug through her pockets with her other hand until she found a handkerchief, pressing the square of white fabric to her partner's still bleeding noise afterwards, "but I wish I had come up with this certain magic sooner… Poor you…"

"I think I was a bit rash when I said I can handle those headaches", Pat admitted after a moment, giving her lover an unhappy look, "they keep getting worse and worse. This one was the worst of them all yet, and if they keep increasing like that…"

"I wish we'd figured something out", Willow sighed in reply, pulling her a bit closer and holding her, "just the thought of you going through this again and again until we found something makes my stomach turn."

"Not just yours", the black haired woman mumbled, then came to her feet, making her way to the couch on slightly wobbly legs; she sat down there, and that was when she spotted the shadow yet again, cold dread filling her.

"No", she brought out, prompting Willow to look at her in confusion, "not again, not so fast…"

"It's here again?!" the witch still had time to ask, alarmed – and then the pain hit once more, so intense this time that the demon couldn't even scream, briefly clenching her fists so tightly that her nails bit into her palms and drew blood before it became too much to handle and she passed out, slumping back into the couch cushions with her good eye rolling back into her head, the last thing she heard before darkness overwhelmed her being Willow crying out her name once more.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Since I won't be home tomorrow evening to update, here we go with a day early ;)

* * *

"…yes, again", Pat heard Willow say as she came back around again, without an idea how long she had been out cold; since she still was on the couch and fully dressed, she figured it hadn't been too long, taking a moment to make sure the pain was gone before she slowly opened her good eye, spotting the redhead moments later as she was pacing the room, on the phone with someone, the demon presuming that it was Giles while she slowly sat up and ran both hands through her hair, grimacing when she encountered sticky wetness and realized that this time, she hadn't just bled from her nose, but from her ears, as well.

"And it is getting worse", Willow now told Giles, not having noticed yet that her partner had woken up again, "the pain got so bad that it knocked her out! We have to do something Giles, who knows how much worse this will get, and there was so little time between the incidents now…"

"I'm awake", Pat croaked from the couch now that the witch finally had fallen quiet; and almost immediately, Willow was at her side, grasping her hand and ignoring what the Watcher was telling her on the phone as she was fully focused on her partner, asking her how she was feeling.

"Better", the demon let her know, smiling weakly at her, "the pain's gone. For now."

"She's awake again and better", the witch let Giles know as, even though Pat couldn't understand what he was saying, he was sounding quite impatient and worried, "the pain stopped, at least for now. But Giles, we have to figure this out quickly, if it got so bad by now that it knocks her out, who knows how much worse it can get!"

"I'm working on this with all my resources", the Brit reassured her, in a vain attempt to calm her down, "I promise. I'll call the coven once more and explain how urgent the situation is."

"Yes, please do that", Willow sighed, "until then, I'll try to find some healing spells which might help. I kinda performed one out of nowhere when I tried to soothe her pain, but I'm not sure this will be enough the next time it happens, it knocked her out so fast just minutes ago…"

"…I understand", the Watcher let her know after just the briefest pause, long enough to let her notice and make her wonder why he had hesitated; under different circumstances, she might have asked, but since her worry for Pat was too big to bother about it, she simply ignored it, instead telling him to call her the moment he knew anything.

"I will", Giles promised her, then told her to be careful before he ended the call; with a sigh, the redhead put the phone down and looked at her lover, smiling weakly when she was pulled into a tender embrace, even though her smile vanished in an instant again when she saw the blood which had leaked out of her girlfriend's ears and was drying on the skin now.

"Giles or the coven better figure something out fast", she then stated, moving out of Pat's embrace with the intent to get a washcloth, "headaches so bad that they make you bleed from the nose and ears can't be healthy for long."

"Yeah", the demon agreed with a small sigh, watching how her partner made her way to the bathroom, "and you know what sucks the most? I can't even fight this thing. If it was corporeal, I'd kick its ass from here to next Sunday, but, well…"

"Maybe we can try making it solid", Willow pondered out loud in reply as she returned from the bathroom with a wet washcloth, sitting down next to the taller woman again and asking her to hold up her hair, carefully washing off the blood once Pat had done so, "like I did with the ghost of that serial killer, remember?"

"How could I ever forget", the demon chuckled in response, "cause you kicked him in the junk right afterwards."

"I still think it's funny that this surprised you so much", the redhead smirked, making her partner chuckle once again, "but, well, I guess I'll look that spell up again, it can't hurt to have it in the back of my mind once you see this thing again."

"You need any stuff from the Magic Box for that?" Pat asked her in response, "cause Anya asked me yet again to help her with some delivery, and if I can't go on patrol, maybe hauling around heavy boxes will help to get rid of some energy."

"Not really for that spell, no", Willow let her know, smiling at the way she frowned at once, clearly not liking the thought of going to the shop without her partner, "but I need to restock some of my other stuff anyway, so we can go there tomorrow if you like?"

"Sure", the taller woman agreed, "good plan, cause today, I just wanna take it easy, after those headaches…"

"I wouldn't have let you go today anyway", Willow told her at once, making her smirk slightly – before she pulled her closer for a tender kiss, forgetting the headaches and her worries about them as their lips met, once more only capable of focusing on her loved one and how good she was making her feel.

* * *

"That box should go over there", Anya stated early in the next afternoon, after Pat had picked Willow up from campus and they had gone to the Magic Box together, the demon now hauling around heavy boxes while the witch was looking for the things she needed, "but please lift it carefully, it contains fragile items!"

Letting out a vaguely agreeing grunting noise, the taller woman hoisted the box up, then carried it to the spot Anya had pointed out to her; there, she carefully lowered it, to the ex-demon's relief, putting it down just in time to straighten up again when Willow poked her head into the storage room, frowning slightly as she asked Anya if she really had run out of dried wolfsbane or if she just couldn't find it.

"I ran out", Anya confirmed, prompting the witch's frown to deepen, "a customer bought all I had left. But no worries, I already ordered more! Shall I put some aside for you?"

"Yes please", Willow gave back, asking herself why anyone would need so much wolfsbane, knowing that Anya had had quite the big stock of it, "did they say why they need so much? It's a bit odd, I mean, I don't use it that often, and I do a lot of various spells…"

"He didn't say, and I didn't ask", Anya shrugged, "I was just happy, because he bought a lot."

"Strange", the redhead commented, making her partner give her a curious look, "you'd think I would have noticed by now that some other person is around who's doing a lot of magic."

"Maybe he's not doing any magic at all", Pat shrugged, clearly not as curious about this as her partner, "you know, like those girls from the campus Wicca group."

"Could be", the witch agreed after a moment, smiling as she thought of how those girls had reacted when they had seen some real magic and had seen what her partner could do, "and, well, I'm probably pondering this for nothing. If you have no wolfsbane, Anya, I got everything, so I'm ready to pay."

"Great", Anya beamed, only to have her face fall as immediately, Pat reminded her of the discount she owed them for the help the demon once more had provided; grumbling to herself, the brunette led the way back into the shop's main area, followed by the witch and the demon, the couple exchanging an amused smirk at the ex-demon's reaction to the mere mentioning of a discount.

"You wanna go back home now?" Pat asked while Anya was busy adding the prices for all the items Willow had chosen, a surprisingly big stack, considering that she only had been planning to get a few supplies, "or maybe have a coffee somewhere or something?"

"Coffee sounds like a good idea", the witch agreed with a smile, "let's go to the Espresso Pump? It's not far from here."

"I know, I went there a hundred times to get coffee when we were researching stuff here", the taller woman reminded her of her delivery duties, making her nod with a slight giggle as she remembered how often Anya and Pat had bickered about this, the demon wanting their friend to buy a new coffee machine and Anya refusing to do so for quite some time until she finally had given in; clearly figuring out what she was thinking about, the black haired woman smirked as well, then moved to help Willow pack up the things she had bought, holding back the urge to roll her eyes when Anya sounded just a bit too happy about the total price for all the stuff.

"You didn't forget the discount, right?" Pat wanted to know, giving her a suspicious look; immediately, Anya shook her head, reassuring her that she already subtracted the fifteen percent they had agreed on beforehand, still sounding cheerful when she asked Willow if she needed help with packing all the items she had bought.

"Yeah, that'd be nice", Willow gave back, making the ex-demon smile brightly at her; together, they quickly packed the items the witch had bought into two bags, Pat taking one of them the moment they had gotten done while the redhead grasped the other one, both wishing Anya a nice day and good business before they finally left the store, the smaller woman grasping her partner's hand the moment they had stepped on the sidewalk.

"That should last for a while", Willow then told the black haired woman as they started walking, "unless some big thing comes up for which I have to do a lot of magic."

"Let's hope this won't happen", Pat gave back at once, giving her a concerned look, "I don't like the thought of any big things coming up while there's the constant little problem of me getting crippling headaches."

"That reminds me", the witch perked up in response, "I wanted to call Giles and ask if there's anything new about this particular situation."

"Don't you think he would have called if there was?" the demon wanted to know, frowning slightly, "he said he would, right? And he usually does."

"Yes", Willow agreed, "but, well, I just want him to find something quickly… I don't like this whole thing at all, and I don't like it to see you in so much pain… Perhaps he'll find something quicker if I annoy him enough."

"I doubt it", Pat chuckled, "but fine, call him then… But first, let's have some coffee, alright? I need another caffeine fix."

"Junkie", Willow playfully teased, making her smirk and nod; the couple briefly stopped walking to grin at each other, then shared a quick kiss before they moved on, a relieved sigh coming from the taller woman when the Espresso Pump appeared up ahead in the distance at last.

"Maybe I should order you decaf", the redhead immediately took another chance given for teasing as she saw the way her lover's good eye lit up; not even dignifying this with a proper answer, Pat just snorted, making the witch giggle yet again, then held the door open for her, the man behind the counter recognizing them on sight and waving cheerfully at them, clearly happy to see two of his best customers enter.

"What will it be today, ladies?" he asked them as soon as they had approached the counter, "the usual?"

"Yeah", the taller woman answered after exchanging a brief look with her partner, "and don't be stingy on the sugar, you hear?"

"As if I ever am", he replied with a roll of his eyes, making the demon smirk; after a moment, he smiled back, then turned his back on them to fix the coffee, and that was when the glass door and window exploded into myriads of splinters and people started screaming in pain and terror, the peaceful mood in the café shattering as effectively as the glass.


	6. Chapter 6

Upon turning around, it was obvious at once to both Willow and Pat why even those who hadn't gotten hurt by the glass were screaming – floating several inches above the floor, arms outstretched wide and an evil grin on her face, was a woman who looked as if she had climbed straight out of a coffin, dried and leathery brown skin stretched so tight that it was a miracle the bones weren't showing through, yellow and black, crooked teeth showing as she smiled, apparently able to look at the terrified crowd even though her eyes had dried out along with her skin and were nothing more than shrivelled little orbs in the sockets, wispy and thin white hair moving gently in the breeze she had conjured up.

Without even fully realizing what she was doing, Pat shoved Willow behind herself as she noticed that the gaze of the woman somehow was focusing on the witch and her; she clenched her fists, remembering in the last second that they were in public and managing to keep herself from flaming up, baring her teeth at the woman instead, unable to hold back the low growl though, and to keep her good eye from flaring up brightly red.

Obviously though, no one was noticing that a woman who had looked perfectly ordinary just moments ago now was growling like an angry wolf and had a glowing red gaze now; they all were focused on the floating woman, holding their breaths as she started moving, gently drifting through the broken door, all of them looking relieved as she passed them without glancing at them once, fully focused on the witch and the demon.

Behind Pat, Willow started mumbling the first defensive spell which came to her mind, a rather simple, but effective shield spell which would protect them against any magic the woman might throw at them; and that this woman was a witch, as well, or at least some other creature using magic, was out of question, with the way she was looking and the impressive control she demonstrated as she floated across the room.

"There's no reason for this", she stated in a voice which sounded as old and papery as the rest of her looked, gesturing vaguely at Pat's glowing eye, "it's not impressing me, and the rest of our audience doesn't really notice."

She smiled slightly, exposing her rotten teeth again, then briefly looked at the crowd – before her gaze focused on the demon again, her smile widening slightly as she stopped floating, still a meter away from the taller woman, but making her uneasy with her presence anyway.

Not sure what to expect, Pat made sure that Willow still was behind her, taking her gaze off the strange woman for a second to do so; and when she glanced back at her, the smile had turned into a grin, giving them an even better view of the rotten teeth, to the great dismay of both of them.

"You might as well have flamed up", the dried out woman then told Pat, laughing slightly at the taller woman's surprise, the merry sound convincing her that, had the woman still had her eyes, they would have twinkled cheerfully.

"Surprised, I take it", the woman went on, apparently deciding that she'd had enough of floating now as she lowered herself down to the ground, her feet creaking ominously once her weight, light as she was, was put fully on them, giving the couple a second to wonder if her bones might break and make her fall down – and then she raised her arm with a shockingly fast, harsh move and the blink of an eye later, Pat let out a surprised yelp as she was flung aside, crashing into a thankfully empty table and causing it to topple over beneath her weight, Willow throwing up the shield moments later, not wanting to share her partner's fate.

"Don't bother", the woman told her with contempt in her voice as the magic flashed up in front of the redhead, "I'm not here for you."

With her eyes widening, Willow automatically looked over at where her partner was struggling to get to her feet, her concentration slipping just enough to make her drop the shield; she still had a moment to hear the woman cackle gleefully, then the blast of magic hit her, throwing her backwards and against the counter, stars exploding in front of her eyes as her the back of her head connected hard with the wooden surface before darkness engulfed her, the last thing she heard being the laughter of the woman.

* * *

"…hear me? Willow, come on, can you hear me?" It took her a moment to recognize the voice, but the moment she did and identified it as belonging to the owner of the Espresso Pump, everything which had happened before she had been knocked out came rushing back and her eyes flew open as she tried to sit up, only to slump back down with a low groan, the world spinning around her, the awful dizziness she was feeling nearly making her throw up.

"Take it easy", the young man told her, sounding concerned, "you got quite the blow to the head… But at least it's not bleeding…"

"Where's Pat?" the witch demanded to know in reply, slowly daring to look around even though it made the world spin even faster around her, her heart clenching up at the way the café's owner cleared his throat in reply, the young man barely able to look her in the eye when she glanced at him again.

"That creepy old woman", he mumbled, looking everywhere but at her face, "she… I don't know how she did it, but she made some odd gestures and knocked her out and… took her away."

"Did you see where she went?" the redhead demanded to know, giving her best to remain calm, telling herself that freaking out wouldn't help anyone, especially not Pat; moments later, this was made considerably harder than it already had been as the young man cleared his throat, sounding uncomfortable when he replied.

"No", he mumbled, glancing down on the floor, fiddling with the hem of his shirt nervously, "I know this will sound weird, but… Well, you'll think I'm crazy now, but she kinda grabbed her and then they… vanished."

To his obvious surprise, the redhead just nodded, clearly not doubting his words for a second; before he could ask her why this didn't seem to surprise her though, she was already struggling to her feet, ignoring him when he, alarmed, asked her if she shouldn't at least remain seated a bit longer.

"Sorry about your window and door", she mumbled as soon as she had managed to stand up and was sure she wouldn't fall over again, saying the first thing which came to her mind, "we'll help with paying for the damage as soon as this has been… resolved… but I need to go now…"

"Shouldn't we call the police?" the guy decided to ask in reply, still sounding concerned, raising his eyebrows in surprise when she shook her head at once.

"They won't be able to help about this", she then let him know, with the tiniest tremble in her voice now, just enough to let him notice, as her carefully composed self-control threatened to slip, "trust me, I know."

And with those words, before he could reply anything, she walked off, stepping through the doorframe and soon vanishing from sight; he looked after her for a few more moments, asking himself what exactly was going on – before he did what all citizens of Sunnydale were so good at and pushed the whole incident to the far back of his mind, focusing on the remaining patrons instead, moving from one to the next and asking them if they were okay, not one of them mentioning what they all had witnessed just minutes ago.


	7. Chapter 7

Once again, Buffy already knew deeply inside that something was horribly wrong when her doorbell rang; it didn't sound any different than it usually did, and the one ringing it only did so once, not even pressing the button continuously, but still the knowledge that something dreadful was going on had settled in her mind the moment she had heard it. And still, she was shocked when she opened the door and found herself face to face with her best friend; one look at the redhead was enough to confirm her suspicions, and even before Willow said a word, Buffy knew that it had something to do with Pat, the simple fact that the witch looked as if someone had suckerpunched her in the gut and that the demon was nowhere to be seen being enough evidence for this suspicion.

"What happened?" she asked, without beating around the bush for long, simultaneously stepping closer to her friend, putting one arm around her and leading her into the house; and the moment the door had closed behind her, Willow's carefully maintained façade broke and a sob shook her body as she squeezed her eyes shut, her fight to regain control only becoming more difficult when she felt Buffy wrap both arms around her.

"I'm not even sure", the witch finally brought out the moment she could be sure she wouldn't burst into hysterical tears after all, "we went to get some coffee and this… this woman came, she broke the window and the door and she looked as if she's a thousand years old, all dried out and dead, she told me she wasn't here for me when I put up a shield and…" Realizing that she was babbling, and not really getting to the point, she took in a deep breath, momentarily closing her eyes again before she went on, now a bit calmer and finally able to tell Buffy in a coherent fashion what had happened.

"She used some sort of force spell against me", she let the blonde know, "and knocked me out, but the owner of the café saw what happened, and he told me once I came back around… She grabbed Pat and they vanished, God knows where she took her and what she's doing to her…"

"I'll call Giles", Buffy decided at once in reply, "I've never heard of something like this before, but maybe he'll know. And then we'll figure out who this woman is, where to find her, and get your girl out."

"Get me a map before you call him", Willow gave back, glad that at least, her mind was still working well enough so she had been able to think of that certain spell, "so I'll try to do a locator spell on her while you talk to him."

"Good idea", Buffy praised at once, "but, um, do you have everything you need for that spell with you?"

"Thankfully, yes", the redhead sighed, once more glad that she had had the presence of mind to take along the bags from the Magic Box when she had left the Espresso Pump, "we dropped by at the shop before we went to get coffee. I'll just need fire…"

Her heart clenched up again as she thought of the fact that, ever since they had gotten together, Pat always had been the one to provide the fire needed for her spells, and again she found herself wondering where her loved one might have been taken and what was being done to her right now; then, she forced those thoughts aside, telling herself that she had to keep her calm and concentration if she wanted the spell to work.

Together with Buffy, the witch made her way into the living room, receiving the map she had requested and spreading it on the table before she dug out the ingredients she'd need for the spell; and while Buffy went to get the phone so she could call Giles, Willow hurried to the kitchen, grabbing a bowl and a box of matches from there, then making her way back to the living room, quickly mixing all the ingredients needed for the spell in the bowl while Buffy was already talking to Giles, giving her best to describe the woman Willow had told her about.

Trying hard to ignore her talking in the background, the redhead focused on the spell, mumbling the words under her breath; and the moment she said the last word, she lit up one of the matches and tossed it into the bowl, holding her breath as she waited for the spell to take effect.

With her gaze fixed firmly on the map, she didn't even notice how Buffy moved closer to the table and looked at it too; frowning, she gave her best friend a questioning look when the map remained dark and no little light appeared to tell them where Pat was, Willow mirroring her expression half a minute later.

"Try to find out who this is", Buffy interrupted Giles' mumbling to himself about the possibilities of who might have done this, "I'll call you back…" Not even waiting for his answer, she hung up the phone, then looked at her best friend in concern, waiting for another minute to make sure no little light would appear before she finally spoke up. "Is it not working…?"

"No, I did it all right", Willow gave back, now growing nervous as she kept staring at the map, willing the light to appear, "I know I did, I could feel it…"

"…why doesn't it show where she is?" Buffy wanted to know, even though she wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer, something she knew for sure when the redhead replied.

"I'm not sure", she let the Slayer know, running a nervous hand through her hair, "it could be that whoever took her is shielding against such spells, if they know what she is, they might know about me, too… Or…"

She trailed off and swallowed heavily, prompting Buffy to sit down next to her and grasp her hand in a silent gesture of support, the witch briefly glancing at her before her gaze focused on the map again, the realization that she couldn't say the other possibility out loud hitting home painfully hard.

"Or she might be dead", Buffy said it for her, knowing that someone had to put it on the table; in response, the witch took in a deep breath, then shook her head, managing to sound surprisingly calm when she looked at her best friend again and replied. "No, she's not. I know she's not, I can feel it…"

After holding her gaze for a few moments, Buffy nodded, telling herself that surely, Willow knew what she was talking about; the thought of figuring out what was going on and then perhaps finding the demon dead pained her, and, not wanting to ponder it any further, she quickly added her own reason why this was highly unlikely.

"Also, it doesn't make sense", she told the witch, "why kidnap her if they're gonna kill her right away? She could have done that there and then."

"Yes", Willow agreed at once, thankful for the support, then changed by the topic by asking what Giles had said, her face falling again at the blonde's response.

"He didn't know anything right away", the Slayer let her know, along with an apologetic glance, "but he promised he'll look into it."

"Alright", Willow sighed after a moment, prompting Buffy to give her another reassuring smile, along with a tender squeeze of her hand; smiling weakly at her, the redhead gave her a thankful look, then glanced at the map again, just sitting there in silence for a while as she asked herself who this woman was and what she might want from her partner.

* * *

An hour later, the whole group had assembled at the Magic Box after Giles had called them one after the other and had told them that some research had to be done; so far, to Willow's dismay, he had no definite information about the woman who had attacked them, not even after she had given him a much more detailed description.

"We're looking for demons, witches, you name it", the Watcher told the assembled group after he had handed out the books and they all had settled at the round research table, "matching the description Willow gave us."

"Old and ugly, got it", Anya nodded, already opening her book; for a moment, Giles looked as if he wanted to protest, then just sighed and focused on his own volume, prompting the rest to do the same; for a while, the shop was quiet, then the small bell above the door rang, making them all look up from their research materials, at the young woman who just had entered.

"Um", she stated, looking a bit lost while Anya already started to rise from her chair, smelling a sale, "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything, but I'm looking for Willow Rosenberg?"

Surprised, the brunette sank back into her chair while Willow did get up, the woman immediately looking at her and giving her a smile, said smile lighting up her whole face and letting them all realize how exceptionally pretty she was.

"Yeah, that fits", she then said after giving the redhead a pretty obvious once-over, making her frown as she asked herself what that was supposed to mean; before she could ask the woman though, she already was speaking on, explaining her remark and causing Willow's eyes to widen.

"You'd be just her type", she let the witch know, still smiling, "so I'm not really surprised. Tell me, which name is your girl going with now?"

"…Pat", the witch made herself answer after a moment of stunned silence, "do you know her?"

"Oh I do", the woman replied with a light chuckle, amusement twinkling in her eyes. "In fact, I know her very well. I'm the one who made her what she is and cursed her."


	8. Chapter 8

The revelation was so unexpected and so big that Willow sank back down on her chair without even noticing, hearing Buffy gasp behind her while Giles removed his glasses and started cleaning them, never taking his gaze off the woman; still smiling, she moved closer to the table, then grabbed the only free chair and sat down, still mostly focused on the witch as she went on.

"It's been a long time ago, so I doubt she would have recognized me anyway", she let the group know, "but seeing that she's not here, and in eyebrow-deep shit instead, I suppose you'll just have to believe me."

"You're the one who made her into a demon?" Xander finally managed to break the stunned silence which had settled over the gang, "but… no offense, but you look so young."

"So does she, doesn't she?" the woman shot back – before her eyes widened and she shook her head, sounding honestly dismayed when she went on. "But, where are my manners?! I didn't even introduce myself yet. I'm Iris."

"Nice to meet you", Buffy told her, obviously deciding to be direct a moment later, "but what exactly are you doing here? It seems a bit too coincidental that you show up hours after Pat has been kidnapped."

"That's because it's not a coincidence", Iris replied airily, making herself comfortable and earning a dirty look from Giles by putting her feet up on the table, skilfully ignoring him though, "in fact, I'm here to help you, because you'll never find her otherwise. I did try to warn her, but sadly, it didn't quite work out."

"The headaches", Willow realized all at once, looking at the other woman in disbelief, "and the shadowy shape she kept seeing before they started? That was you?"

"It wasn't my intention to give her a migraine", Iris defended herself at once, "in fact, I'm not even really sure why this happened. I tried to communicate with her when I learned that this bitch is after her now, but I just couldn't get through. Perhaps your magic was blocking me off or something."

"So you know who this woman was?" Buffy wanted to know, frowning, "why didn't you just come here earlier if you know that and also knew that she's after Pat?"

"Unfortunately, I'm not much good with teleportation spells", Iris sighed in reply, looking slightly dismayed, "so I had to travel here the old-fashioned way. I was hoping that perhaps, I would still make it in time, but unfortunately…"

"So who is she?" Willow asked what they all were thinking, "and what does she want?"

"She's another one I cursed", Iris sighed, having the grace to look a bit sheepish when they all looked at her in disbelief.

"I got a bit out of hand with the cursing for a while", she admitted, shifting on the chair, now looking slightly uncomfortable, "but I'm not doing that so often anymore, I swear. Anyway, to survive, she needs to feed from others, and—"

"Wait", Giles interrupted her, startled, "which kind of feeding are we talking about?"

"Not their flesh", Iris hurriedly reassured them, noticing how pale Willow had gone, "their… well, I suppose you could call it their magical essence. And since she's a demon, and a quite powerful one at that…"

"Why is there no information about this woman in any of our books?" Giles wanted to know, frowning, "I spent the time since she's taken our friend looking for information on her, and there was nothing. Not even the coven in England we are working with had any information about such a creature."

"Because no one ever got away from her alive before to tell about her", Iris rather bluntly replied, causing Willow to gasp while the eyes of the rest of the group widened, "and, frankly said, if I hadn't known that Pat has changed, I wouldn't have bothered to come here and help you guys, but, well, since she helped with stopping a number of apocalypses and all those nasty demons and what not…"

"So she kills their victims after she fed enough?" Buffy asked, exchanging a worried look with Willow, "because, well, Will tried to locate Pat with a locator spell and it didn't work… This either means that this woman is shielding her hideout or that Pat's dead…"

"I can guarantee that she's not dead yet", Iris gave back, helping to calm Willow down at least a bit, "the feeding takes quite some time. She can't take too much at once or it will end up harming her, so we still have more than enough time."

"So how can we find her, if the spell doesn't work?" the redhead demanded to know, frowning, "you don't happen to know where she took Pat, right?"

"Actually, I kind of do", Iris replied, sounding slightly proud, "even though getting there might not be easy. Since she's always on the move, looking for demons and witches suitable for her needs, having a regular hideout isn't practical for her, so one of the uses she makes of the magic she steals is to drag her victims off into… well, I suppose you could call it another dimension, or another plane of existence. A really tiny one, I've been there once and all it contains is her home."

"Great, just great", Xander commented, shaking his head, "she couldn't just, I don't know, choose some cave or something? Like our baddies usually do?"

"How can we get there?" Buffy threw in before Iris could answer the young man, "and now don't tell us you don't know."

"I do", Iris reassured her, smiling slightly again, "but it needs a lot of magical power, the only time I was there, I only managed to get there because she invited me there. But once we got that power, we can send someone there to get her out."

"I think I'll have the power we need", Willow calmly replied, shaking her head when Buffy looked as if she wanted to protest, and quickly speaking on before the Slayer could try to do so.

"You know we have no other choice", she reasoned, prompting Giles to let out a small sigh as he knew deep inside that she was right, "there are no other witches powerful enough to help here in Sunnydale, and getting some from the coven to help would take too long. I am not going to risk her life by sitting around and waiting for them to come from England if we have all this power right here."

"But what if you can't handle it?" Anya wanted to know, looking worried, "the last thing we need now is that you want to end the world again, you know?"

"That's not gonna happen", Willow let her know, raising an eyebrow at her rather blunt choice of words, "I'm sure Iris will be willing to help, so I won't need to tap into all that dark power. Right, Iris?"

"I suppose so", the other witch shrugged, "but if it'll be just the two of us doing the magic, one of us will have to go there. And, to be honest, I'm not really the best choice, she has a bit of a grudge against me."

"No surprise there", Willow mumbled, then shrugged, smiling slightly as she went on. "I'll be fine with going there. I'll just need to know as much as possible about this woman so I'll know what to be careful about."

"That I can do", Iris smiled, making the redhead return the smile after a moment; and then, she started explaining, the witch listening intently, eager to get into this other dimension as fast as possible and get her partner out of there.


	9. Chapter 9

"Alright", Iris stated an hour later, after several ingredients had been readied on the table – and after a short discussion with Anya about if they should be paid or not, until Giles had stepped in and had pointed out that, in such emergencies, financial matters should be the last thing on the ex-demon's mind, "the spell itself is fairly easy, just the energy needed to make the portal open is the tricky part."

"No worries about that", Willow gave back, managing to sound more confident than she actually was feeling, "there should be more than enough between the two of us. So shall we get started?"

"Sure", Iris shrugged, then took in a deep breath, all cheerful behaviour falling off of her as she concentrated; she reached over the table and grasped Willow's hands, the redhead taking in a deep breath as well, briefly closing her eyes to make focusing easier – before her gaze met the brown eyes of the woman sitting across of her and they started the spell in perfect unison, not even noticing how the rest of the group, all of them watching from a safe distance, held their breaths as they waited to see what would happen.

Just as simultaneously as they had started speaking, both Willow and Iris each grabbed half of the pile of herbs they had readied, crushing them into crumbs, then blowing on them – and the moment they connected in the air, a shockingly loud bang, the portal opened, purple and blue hues swirling in the circular opening as it hung over the table.

"Quickly", Iris pressed out while Willow grit her teeth, fighting hard to keep the dark magic within her from taking over as she had used quite a bit of it to make the spell work, "get through it, I don't know how long we can keep this open…"

"Take care!" Buffy called out, dismayed that she had to let her best friend go alone; she had offered her help, but Iris had pointed out that, even with all her Slayer bonuses and abilities, she wouldn't be of much use over there, not in a dimension made up of pure magic and inhibited by a powerful demon with the knowledge and magical abilities centuries of practice had gained her.

Nodding, Willow briefly glanced at her, then let go if Iris' hands; for a moment, she feared that the portal might close once the contact ended, but to her relief, it remained open, and she hurriedly got up on the table, taking in a deep breath before she squeezed her eyes shut and stepped through.

Since she never had used such a portal before, only had opened one once to get rid of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Willow wasn't sure what to expect as she moved into the swirling vortex; moments later, it felt as if her stomach was swirling even more than the colours of the portal, nausea filling her as she got through, slumping down to her knees the moment she felt firm ground beneath her feet again, heaving as she fought hard to keep the contents of her stomach inside.

"Jeez", she brought out as soon as she could be sure she wouldn't puke, "she could have warned me…"

Now that her stomach was slowly calming down, the redhead dared to come to her feet again, looking around; since Iris had described the dimension as quite small, she was surprised to find herself standing in a vast plain, withering trees here and there, the rough ground crunching beneath her feet as she took a few hesitating steps and looked around, wondering where her partner had been taken.

Not sure where to go, she turned left and right; and that was when the tower caught her eye, in the far distance, the bulky and massive structure reaching up into the sky, the mere sight of it almost causing her to expect lightning and thunder on the horizon.

"Guess I might as well start there", she muttered to herself, since there were no other buildings inside; steeling herself against any dangers which might be lurking in the area around her, she started walking, grimacing when after a few steps, the ground stopped crunching and started feeling strangely squishy beneath her feet.

For a moment, she wondered if she should just ignore the odd feeling, then looked down after all; and the blink of an eye later, she almost screamed, managing to hold the noise back in the last second, a high, breathless whistle escaping her instead as she saw that the ground she now was standing on seemed to made of body parts, some of them human, some obviously not.

"Jesus Christ", she pressed out, then took in another deep breath, telling herself that she could handle this, that she had to handle this if she wanted to save her loved one; and as she took another step, she could feel one of the arms move beneath her feet, strangely turning before the hand shot up and grasped her around the ankle, a hoarse cry escaping her as the hand gave a strong yank, trying to make her stumble and fall.

"Let go!" she snapped, stepping down hard with her free foot and on the arm the hand which was holding her was attached to; for a moment, the grip on her ankle tightened, then she put even more weight on her leg and the hand let go of her, prompting her to take a few quick steps before it had a chance to recover and grab her again.

Speeding up her steps, not wanting to get caught in another grip, Willow flinched as she felt fingers brush her pants once more, not managing to get a hold though; and to her relief, the ground soon became firm again, crunching beneath her heels once more, prompting her to let out a small, but relieved sigh – before she glanced up ahead and saw several more pit-like spots in her path to the tower, all of them filled with body parts, some of them already reaching up and groping around in the empty air, absurdly looking as if they were waving at her.

"That explains why no one ever made it back to tell", she mumbled as she kept walking, avoiding the pits now that she knew to look out for them, "if she kills them here and just drops them there, no one ever even found a body…"

She shivered at the thought of her partner ending up in one of those pits, cut up into several pieces as all the other victims had; then, she pushed those thoughts aside and told herself that she wouldn't let this happen, determination hardening her face as she sped up her steps, a slightly malicious smile curling her lips when each step took her closer and closer to the tower, without any further interruptions.

Finally, she stood at the base of the massive structure, looking up at it with a slight frown; up close it was even uglier than it had been from afar, with stone gargoyles placed on turrets here and there, all of them looking as if they had been built quite randomly, without any sense for symmetry or order, making her wonder if the strange witch just had added them whenever and wherever she had felt like it.

"Taking captives to a huge ugly stone tower", she then mumbled to herself, shaking her head as she kept glancing up at the building, noting that there were no windows, "cliché, much?" Shaking her head, she started to look for a door, slowly walking along the tower's base; and just as she spotted a doorway up ahead, fine stone dust trickled down on her from above, along with ominous cracking and breaking noises, prompting her to look up in surprise, her eyes going wide when she saw that one of the gargoyles was starting to move.

Quickly, she took a few steps back as the statue stretched, then straightened, opening brightly white glowing eyes; and seconds later, the gaze locked on her, the gargoyle baring stony, but sharp looking teeth at her before it leapt from the turret, wings spreading from its back and keeping it from crashing to death, somehow keeping it airborne even though the wings were, like the rest of its body, made of stone.

"How does that even work?" Willow asked no one in particular while her mind raced, trying to figure out how to defeat this thing and keep it from tearing her apart with those unsettlingly big talons it had on hands and feet; it let out a strangely high-pitched shriek, arms outstretched as it swooped down towards her, her instincts taking over moments later as she brought up her hands and formed a shield, the gargoyle crashing against it seconds later, hard enough to cause her to stumble a few steps back, the shield vanishing into nothingness as the gargoyle tumbled to the ground.

Growling, the thing jumped back on its hind legs, baring its teeth at her again; for a moment, Willow felt like snarling back, pretty much like Pat would have, had she been by her side, then she told herself to focus on the battle and flung her hands at the statue, its eyes widening almost comically in surprise when it found itself unable to move.

"Your mistress is not the only powerful witch, you know", Willow now did snarl, the dark magic within her rearing its ugly head; and this time, she let it, her eyes darkening as she was using the power to lift the gargoyle up into the air – and then fling it into the closest pit full of body parts, the numerous hands quickly grabbing it and beginning to tear at it, bits and pieces of the stone soon crumbling and breaking beneath the onslaught.

"There", the redhead mumbled, momentarily relishing in how easily she had defeated this thing; then, she pushed the dark magic back where it belonged, something which took considerably more strength than defeating the gargoyle had, the mental struggle lasting longer than she would have liked before she finally had regained full control, almost able to feel how her eyes returned to their normal green colour.

Looking up at the tower, the witch tried to figure out if any more gargoyles would come to life and attack her; apparently though, they either weren't meant to do so or had decided against it after how quickly she had dispatched with the first one, since they all stayed where they were, as still as stone statues were supposed to.

Satisfied, Willow looked at the door again, noting the heavy wood it had been made of and the large lock; she had a second to wonder if it'd be locked and how hard it would be to open it, and then the scream erupted from the top of the tower and shattered the silence, the redhead's blood freezing as she immediately recognized the voice as Pat's, the agony and pain in the scream causing her heart to start hammering in her chest so hard it almost hurt.

And then, the scream ended abruptly as it had begun, cut off so suddenly that it nearly made Willow's heart stop along with it; she stood frozen on the spot a few more seconds, then got moving again, telling herself that no matter how thick and sturdy this door would turn out to be, nothing would stop her from entering this tower and getting her partner out, not after hearing this dreadful sound of pain and suffering.


	10. Chapter 10

To her relief, the door didn't turn out to be much of a challenge; one powerful spell of pure force was enough to break it out of the frame, even though briefly, she wondered if she hadn't made too much of a commotion now and perhaps had alerted the other witch to her presence.

Then, she remembered the scream and shrugged it off, telling herself that she'd be able to handle whatever the witch might throw at her; with her resolve face firmly in place, she entered the tower, finding herself in a rather shoddy looking entrance hall, the paint peeling off the walls and ceiling in large patches, mould growing here and there, water dripping somewhere regularly and quite annoyingly.

"Should focus more on housekeeping than on kidnapping people", Willow mumbled to herself as she spotted the stairway leading up to the top of the tower; the stairs didn't look all too trustworthy, but since clearly, the dried out witch had managed to get Pat up there somehow, they had been carrying their weight, so she figured that she'd be okay.

Still, she held her breath as she set her foot on the lowest stair; it creaked ominously, but held, and she let out a relieved sigh before she continued moving upwards, her heart skipping a bit every now and then when yet another stair creaked or even gave way a little beneath her feet.

Finally, she had made it to the top of the stairs, finding herself on a small platform on the very top of the tower, in front of yet another door; holding back the urge to just barge in, she pressed her ear against it instead, trying to hear anything which would tell her if the witch was there with her partner, not sure what to think of the silence behind the wood – on one hand, Pat wasn't screaming anymore, but on the other hand, she could think of twenty unpleasant reasons for why her partner was so quiet.

_Well, _she then told herself, refraining from speaking out loud now as she didn't want to alert the other witch after all, _no use in standing around out here any longer… Time to face the music._

She took in another deep breath, steeling herself for what she might find behind that door, then grasped the handle and turned it, relieved to see that the door wasn't locked; it swung open soundlessly, probably the only thing in this tower which didn't creak or groan, leading to a room almost as big as the entrance hall downstairs, and just as rundown as said hall had been.

This time though, Willow noticed nothing of the peeling walls and the dirty ground beneath her feet; all her attention was focused at once on the table which stood in the middle of the room, her loved one lying flat on her back on said table, heavy chains around her wrists and ankles securing her to the piece of furniture, one glance being enough to tell the redhead how much the other witch had fed off her partner already.

Dully, she remembered how the dark magic within her had taken over a while ago, and had stolen some of the demon's energy; back then, several strands of her hair had gone temporarily grey, but this time, it was even worse, the grey now dominating, with only a few strands of black left, and the way her clothes hung quite loosely on her body showed Willow that she had lost quite a bit of weight, as well.

Momentarily, Willow was stunned by the sight, asking herself how this could have happened so fast when the demon had been taken mere hours ago; then, her gaze took in even more details and those thoughts were banished to the far back of her mind as her heart clenched up yet again.

As if being fed off wasn't enough, the demon obviously also had taken quite a beating; the skin around her good eye had darkened to a purplish bruise, a bloodied cut high on the cheekbone with the flesh around it bruised as well, and another one low on her jaw, the witch only now noticing how bloodied and raw her wrists looked, showing how hard she had tried to free herself.

"Jesus", Willow finally brought out, managing to tear herself out of her shocked state enough to rush over to the table, "what did she do to you…?"

Only now, she remembered to look around if the other witch was anywhere in sight, not sure if she should feel relieved or worried when she couldn't spot the woman anywhere; then, she shrugged it off and grasped one of her partner's hands, startled at how cold the skin felt, briefly sure that Pat was dead after all – before she noticed the slow rising and falling of her chest, briefly closing her eyes to regain some control and taking in a few deep breaths.

"Pat", she then tried to make her lover react to her presence, since her touch had accomplished nothing, not sure if the taller woman was asleep or simply out cold, "Sweetie… Come on, if you can hear me, wake up…"

Careful to keep her fingers away from any of the cuts and bruises, she moved her free hand to tenderly run it down the demon's cheek; again, no reaction came though, showing her that the black haired woman indeed had been knocked out by what had been done to her, thoughts of vengeance briefly filling her mind as she thought of the person who had done this to her.

_No time for this now, _she then told herself, breathing deeply yet again to regain her composure, _just focus on getting her out now._

It took her a few moments to find the locks which secured the chains around Pat's wrists and ankles; focusing on the first one, she touched it lightly with the tips of her fingers, imagining the small mechanism inside, the bolts and how the key would push them up and make the lock snap open upon turning…

The lock opened with an audible click and the chain fell down to the floor with a shockingly loud clang; and where Willow's voice and touch hadn't been enough to wake Pat up, this obviously had done the trick, since the demon flinched on the table, then let out a barely audible groan, her good eye fluttering, the noise and sight being enough to distract the witch from the task at hand, her heart feeling as if it was getting torn out of her chest once more when the taller woman gave a terrifyingly weak jerk on the chains still holding her, her voice barely audible as she started to mumble.

"No", she brought out, clenching her fists, clearly not realizing that at least one of them had been freed, "no more, please… No more…"

"Hush", Willow hurriedly tried to calm her down, knowing that the last thing they needed now was for the taller woman to freak out and maybe start burning the place down, "it's me, Honey, it's okay, I'm here to get you out… You'll be okay…"

To her relief, the demon did react to her this time, somehow managing to force her good eye open despite how drained and exhausted she clearly was; momentarily, her gaze was full of disbelief – and then, Willow felt almost as shocked as she had been when she had laid eyes on the captured woman for the first time as tears started to glisten in her eye, her face working as she fought to contain her emotions.

"You'll be okay", she repeated, not sure what else she could say, "I promise, I'll get you out of here and you'll be okay…"

"She said you wouldn't come", the demon pressed out in reply, finally losing the fight against her tears, a few of them rolling down her cheek, "she said no one would come, that no one would find me here… And after a few days, I believed her…"

_A few days?! _Willow's mind reeled at hearing this, _how is this possible?! It's not even been a whole day since this woman snatched her!_

"…she lied", she made herself reply, telling herself that she could figure this out later, once she had gotten her partner out, "I'm here, and I'll get you out… Just hold still for a moment so I can open these locks…"

She bent over the taller woman to briefly, but tenderly kiss her on the forehead, then focused on the locks again, not having noticed how the demon had stiffened at her movement; despite her rather upset state, it didn't take her long to open the three remaining locks, her voice full of concern when she asked Pat if she could stand.

"I think so", the demon gave back after considering this for a moment, to the witch's relief having calmed down enough to stop the flow of tears; giving her an encouraging smile, Willow helped her to sit up, then with getting off the table, keeping an arm around her waist as she led her to the door, hoping and praying that the witch who had done this to her partner wouldn't show up in the last second and try to thwart their escape.

Apparently though, even though the redhead had no idea how the other witch could have left, seeing that the only way to the top of the tower was the stairway she had taken and she hadn't passed her there, the woman was one, off to do only God knew what; deciding not to worry about her, Willow tightened her grip on the demon's waist, not wanting her to end up tumbling down the stairs in her weakened state, relieved when, after what seemed like half an eternity, they had made it to the bottom of them safely, even though her partner was out of breath and sweating profusely, showing how much of a toll the simple walk down the stairs had taken on her.

"You'll be okay", Willow told her as the taller woman leaned against the wall, looking as if she was about to pass out any moment, "I promise, we just have to make it to the portal and then you can rest and recover…"

Nodding, Pat forced a weak smile on her face, then moved away from the wall again; leaning heavily on the redhead, she let the smaller woman lead her out of the tower, her dismay about the whole situation reaching new heights when Willow stopped dead in her tracks once they had moved outside and just stared.

"…what?" she finally dared to ask, prompting the redhead to look up at her, her eyes wide and full of shock; and moments later, Pat felt like simply sitting down and giving up as the witch replied, her words shattering the tiny bit of hope she had had about making it out of this place alive to even tinier pieces. "The portal I came through to here… she said she'd keep it open, but… it's gone."


	11. Chapter 11

The look on Pat's face when she heard those words was one Willow never had seen before, not even when the taller woman had lost her eye; she looked so defeated and hopeless that it was scaring the witch more than the thought of being stuck here, since in all the years they had been together, she never had seen her partner just give up like that.

"We'll never get out", the demon told her, slumping down to the ground and ending up with her back leaning against the tower, "she was right, we'll never get out of here… First she'll finish me off and then she'll start feeding on you…"

"She'll do no such thing", Willow reassured her at once, giving her best to sound confident, crouching down next to her and grasping her hand, "I'll find a way to open a new one and get us out of here, I promise."

Falling silent, not sure what else she could say, she squeezed the taller woman's hand tenderly, fighting hard to hide her own dismay about the vanished portal; since apparently though, time ran much faster in this dimension than it did in the one she had come from, it was no surprise that the portal was gone, the witch briefly wondering how much time had passed back in her world and what the people she had left behind there were thinking, if they wondered if she was dead or had figured out what was going on.

"It'll be okay", she made herself say again, shocked by her partner's behaviour; in all the years they had spent together, she never would have imagined that anything could be done to change her strong and confident partner into the frightened, defeated woman she was now.

"Come on", she finally said, putting one arm around the demon's waist and helping her to her feet again, "let's at least move away from that tower, in case she comes back… Once we found a hideout, I can come up with something…"

"If she comes back, we're done", Pat replied tonelessly, managing to come to her feet somehow though despite how exhausted she was, "I can't fight her, I can't even flame up, let alone demon out, and if she gets her hands on you… She'll be so strong…"

"Won't happen", Willow reassured her once more, then started leading her away from the tower; she made sure to avoid any of the body part pits, still managing to look out for anything they could use as a hideout, simultaneously not wanting to go too far away from where the portal had originally appeared, just in case it might open up again.

"Over there", she finally spotted a formation of rocks big enough to hide behind, "these rocks should do… Just until I figured something out…"

Even though by now, the demon was breathing heavily, and having trouble with staying on her feet, she nodded; forcing herself to move along next to her partner; still having an arm around her waist, Willow gave her best to support her, but still the taller woman slumped down to the ground the moment they had reached the rocks, leaning her back against them, sweat trailing down her cheeks as her good eye slipped close, her heart racing in her chest.

"It'll be okay", Willow told her once more, concerned and dismayed by the bad state her loved one was in, "I promise, just hold on and I'll figure something out… I'll get you back home and there you can rest and regain your strength…"

Even though she wasn't as sure about that, unable to stop thinking about what might happen, should the other witch come back, Pat made herself nod; grasping her hand, Willow gave her another reassuring smile, then glanced over the rock formation and at the plain area around it again, willing the portal to appear, only now realizing that she might not be able to open it again on her own, not without the ingredients needed and with no one around to support her. Under different circumstances, she would have asked her partner for support, and would have tapped into the potential for use of magic the demon carried within herself; one look at the black haired woman was enough to tell her though that this wasn't an option, the redhead not wanting to risk draining her even further.

Not daring to voice those thoughts out loud, since she didn't want to upset the demon even further, the witch gave her best to hide her thoughts and to keep up the reassuring and confident façade; to her relief, Pat didn't seem to notice her inner turmoil, having leaned the back of her head against the stone as well and just staring off into nothingness, the empty look in her good eye taking quite a bit of the redhead's relief away as she asked herself what exactly had been done to the taller woman in that tower.

Telling herself that she could figure this out later, and that now, she had to focus on finding a way to reopen the portal; already, she started considering tapping into the dark magic deep within her, well aware of the risk, but not seeing any other solution. Taking in a deep breath, she started to focus, hoping that she'd be able to get the darkness back under control once she had managed to reopen the portal with it; and that was when the wind came up, a light breeze at first, but quickly developing into a raging storm, prompting her to narrow her eyes as the wind blew fine corns of sand into her face.

"What's happening?" Pat wanted to know, sounding slightly alarmed; not sure what to reply, Willow just squeezed her hand reassuringly in reply, her eyes going wide again moments later despite the sand still flying around as the portal opened up in exactly the same spot it had been in before, the witch jumping to her feet a second later and grasping her partner around the waist yet again, quickly helping her to her feet.

"The portal!" she cried out, tightening her grip around the taller woman when she felt her sway dangerously on her feet, "come on, quickly!"

Even though her legs felt as if all the muscle had been replaced with jelly, Pat forced herself to hurry along as Willow started moving closer to the portal; she stumbled and almost fell after just a few steps, but the grip the witch had on her kept her from ending up on the ground, her heart skipping a beat as she found herself unable to stop her mind from conjuring up terrifying images of the portal closing again, leaving them both stuck there – or of just Willow getting through, leaving her behind, weakened and helpless until the other witch would come back to finish what she had started in the tower.

The mere thought of this happening to her, of being fed on by that witch again, gave her the strength she needed to reach the portal; and half a minute after it had appeared, both Willow and she stepped through, out of the horrid dimension where the demon had been held captive and back to their home, the portal closing behind them with an audible _pop_, leaving not the smallest trace behind.

* * *

Only when they stepped through, Willow remembered how bad using the portal had affected her, realising how much worse it had to be for her partner in her weakened state a second before she felt Pat fall next to her; with a tremendous crash, the demon landed on the table of the Magic Box, briefly making Willow feel relieved that said table hadn't broken – before she ended up on her hands and feet next to the taller woman, fighting hard to keep herself from throwing up yet again while, dimly, she heard various voices call out her name and her partner's.

"I'm so sorry!" Iris' voice came next, prompting the witch to look up at her as soon as she could be sure she wouldn't puke again, "I tried to keep it open, I really did, but it was so hard… I had to let it close for a while to recharge… are you okay?"

"I am", Willow made herself say, carefully getting off the table after convincing herself that her legs wouldn't give in beneath her the moment she'd try to stand, once more shocked at how much using the portal had exhausted her, not wanting to imagine how it had to have been for her already exhausted partner, "make sure Pat's okay…"

"She's out cold", Buffy gave back, sounding concerned as she spoke on while turning the taller woman on her back, "and, Jesus, what happened to her? Just look at her…"

"She fed on her", Willow replied, grasping her partner's hand once more, her heart clenching up yet again when the demon didn't react at all, but just remained on the table motionless, her good eye closed, her breath so shallow and slow that for a horrible moment, the redhead thought yet again that she had stopped breathing all together.

"How could she take so much?" Buffy wanted to know, looking as startled and concerned as Willow had felt when she had found her partner in the tower, "it's just been a few hours since she's taken her!"

"Time seems to pass faster over there", the redhead explained in reply, moving one hand to tenderly remove a strand of grey hair out of the demon's face, "she said that this horrible woman kept telling her that no one would come for her, that we wouldn't find her, and that after a few days, she started believing her…"

"Did you know about this?" Buffy immediately demanded to know, glaring at Iris, "did you know that time passes faster over there? Why didn't you tell us?"

"I wasn't sure", Iris sighed, giving them an apologetic look, "it was that way when I visited her, but that has been so long ago, I wasn't sure anymore if it still is that way or if she changed it… It's her creation, she can do as she pleases there, so…"

"You should have told us anyway", Giles admonished, shaking his head, "so we would have been prepared. What if it had taken us longer to get there and she would have… finished feeding?"

"Let's not even think about it", Willow threw in before Iris had a chance to reply, shuddering at the mere idea, "I just want to get her home so she can get some rest. Anya, I'm going to need some sage, it'll help her recharge her strength…"

Nodding, and for once not trying to argue about payment, Anya hurried off to get the sage while Giles let Willow know he'd drive them home; Buffy volunteered to get Pat out to the car, using her Slayer strength to lift the knocked out demon from the table after Willow had nodded her agreement, letting her best friend know that she'd be there in a second.

"I doubt this witch will just accept that I took away her source of food, and ruined one of her gargoyles in the process", the redhead then told Iris while Buffy was making her way to the door with Giles in tow and the unconscious Pat in her arms, "so if she comes back, I need to know how to fight her."

"I'll help you", Iris promised at once, "I'll just get some stuff from my hotel room and then meet you at your place. Where do you live?"

After telling their address to the witch, Willow watched how she wrote it down, glad that Iris had offered her help so readily; then, Anya finally came back with the sage, handing the plastic bag filled with the dried herb to the redhead, letting her know that she could have more, should she need it.

"Thanks", the witch gave back, "but I hope this will be enough… Even though she took quite much from her…"

"Just call me if you need more", Anya told her, giving her a reassuring smile afterwards, "I'll have Xander bring it to your home! And I won't charge you, I promise. Poor Pat, she looked so bad."

"She'll be fine", Willow replied, managing to sound more confident than she was feeling, once more remembering how defeated and frightened the taller woman had been when she had found her, a state she never had seen her in before, "she just needs to get some rest, then she'll recover. Thanks for the sage, I better go now so Giles can get us home…"

"Just call if you need anything", Anya repeated, making the witch nod; she gave her friend a grateful smile, then finally hurried outside where Giles already was waiting in the car, with the engine running and Pat lying on the backseat, still out cold, the redhead barely able to take her eyes off of her as she got into the car, taking the unconscious woman's head into her lap since Buffy had occupied the passenger's seat, and the Watcher drove off, taking them to their home.


	12. Chapter 12

Author's Note: so my update schedule is completely wonky again. There will be one on Thursday too though, so perhaps it'll get back on track then :D

* * *

"How long until this takes effect?" Buffy wanted to know half an hour later, after having watched how Willow had crumbled half of the sage Anya had given her into a bowl and had lit it up, now placing the bowl close enough to her partner to ensure she'd breathe in the smoke; with a small sigh, the witch shrugged, then looked up at her from her seat on the edge of the bed, for the first time allowing herself to show her emotions about the whole situation.

"I don't know", she mumbled, looking down on her unconscious partner again and reaching out to tenderly caress her hair, a touch Pat was noticing nothing of, "she took so much from her… You should have seen her when I found her, she was so exhausted and so scared, I've never seen her like this before…"

"But she'll be okay, right?" Buffy wanted to know, looking at the demon as well, concern written all over her face, "she can recharge, can't she? She did so after the dark magic leeched from her, right?"

"Yes", Willow confirmed, "but it didn't take that much back then… just look at her, she's been drained so much, she even lost weight, not to mention her hair…"

"Let's hope she can recover a bit before this woman comes back and tries anything", Buffy stated in reply, making the witch nod; for a few minutes, they both were quiet afterwards, Willow still caressing her loved one's hair while Buffy just looked at the demon, trying to imagine how powerful their new opponent had to be now, after taking so much of the taller woman's strength.

"Want me to stay the night?" the Slayer finally broke the silence, making her best friend look at her again, "just in case she attacks or something…"

"Yeah", the redhead gave back after a moment, smiling thankfully at the blonde, "that'd be nice… I'll ready the couch for you, alright?"

Nodding, Buffy smiled back at her, then watched her get up from her seat on the edge of the bed; together, they made their way into the living room where she helped Willow prepare the couch for the night, nodding yet again when the witch asked if she was hungry and if they should order some food.

"I'm starving", she then let the witch know, her stomach grumbling audibly moments later as if to underline her words; to her relief, Willow let out a small giggle in reply, then shook her head while she asked the Slayer what she wanted to eat, already picking up the phone.

"We have three restaurants on speed dial", she then let the blonde know, "you know, with Pat's lack of skill in the kitchen and me often not feeling like cooking after coming home from college…"

"Sometimes I wonder how she got so old, with so little knowledge about cooking", Buffy joked in reply, making the redhead giggle once more; afterwards, they settled on ordering Chinese food, quickly choosing what they wanted before the witch hit the fast dial for said restaurant, the employee on the other end of the line greeting her cheerfully, all of the workers there by now knowing both Pat and her as regular and good customers.

"We'll deliver in twenty minutes", he told her after she had told them what they wanted to eat, "that'll be eighteen dollars, Miss Rosenberg!"

"Thanks", the witch gave back, then said her goodbye and ended the call; she told Buffy what the employee had said, making the Slayer smile happily at the thought of food in a rather short time – before her gaze moved to the bedroom doorway again, her voice concerned when she asked if Willow thought the demon would wake up anytime soon.

"Not sure", the redhead sighed in reply, glancing at the doorway as well, "you know, stepping through that portal took quite the toll on me already, and she's much weaker right now than I was… Who knows how much of a strain it put on her, in her weakened state…"

"Let's hope the sage will help", Buffy tried to be optimistic, "I really don't like the thought of her being so drained while this witch is still out there and might come back…"

"I'm afraid she will", Willow had to admit, running a suddenly shaky hand through her hair as she thought of the pits she had seen in the other dimension, "when I was there, there were… kinda like pits, you know, and they were filled with body parts… human and not so human… so that must be why there's no info on her in any of Giles' books. No one ever lived to tell the tale, and she'll want to keep it that way…"

"Well, she's welcome to try", Buffy stated, a look of determination settling over her face, "I'll kick her ass from here to next Sunday, and maybe we can give back what she took from Pat then."

"Might be possible", Willow nodded, "but until then, we'll just have to hope that her powers will recharge on their own… The sage should help with that, I just hope I got enough."

"You can always get more from Anya, right?" her best friend wanted to know in reply, "just tell her to order more in case she's close to running out. I'm sure she'll gladly help you out, you're both her friends after all…."

"Yeah, she didn't even charge me for what I took along now", Willow let her know with a small smile; Buffy smiled back at her, then reached out and placed a comforting hand on her arm; the witch's smile widened slightly in response, then the doorbell rang, signalling the arrival of the food, distracting them both from the witch still out there and the possibility that she might attack yet again, even though Willow found herself unable to stop thinking of the bad state her partner was in, asking herself how long it would take until she'd be back to her regular strength and how long it'd take her to handle what had been done to her.

* * *

After the food had been delivered and eaten, Willow let Buffy know that she'd check on her partner, making the Slayer nod her agreement; and while she made her way into the kitchen to clean up the dishes they had used, the witch moved into the bedroom, the room by now smelling strongly of sage, but even the burning of the herb hadn't helped with waking the demon up, as Willow had to see to her dismay upon entering.

"Hey", she said anyway, with the small hope that perhaps, her voice might accomplish what the sage hadn't and bring Pat out of her deep sleep or perhaps even unconsciousness, "just wanted to check on you…"

She fell silent as she moved to the window and opened it, eager to let some of the smoke which was filling the room by now out; then, she sat down on the edge of the bed and took gentle hold of her girlfriend's hand, caressing the back of it tenderly with her thumb while she looked at her.

"You'll be okay", she then said yet again, not sure how often she had reassured her partner of this by now, "you know that, right? No matter what she did to you, and how awful it was, you'll be okay…"

Not knowing what else she could say, she bent over the taller woman's lifeless form and tenderly kissed her, momentarily startled by how cold her lips were; then, with a small sigh, she straightened up again and quietly left the bedroom, leaving the door open to make sure she'd hear any noise Pat might make while waking up, and joined Buffy in the kitchen, shaking her head when the blonde asked if anything had changed.

"She's still out cold", she then sighed, "if the sage helped, it didn't have enough of an effect to wake her up… If she doesn't wake up until tomorrow morning, I'll have to think of something else…"

"I'm sure she will", Buffy reassured her, smiling calmingly at her, "she's one tough cookie, you know? She'll be okay."

"I hope so", Willow sighed, "as I said, I've never—" The scream interrupted her and startled her into silence, her eyes widening – before she, without another word, dropped the dishtowel she just had picked up and rushed to the bedroom, not even noticing that Buffy was right behind her, her fists clenched as if she expected battle to happen any second.

Upon entering the bedroom, they couldn't spot any enemy though, just finding the empty bed; and in the corner farthest from the door, Pat sat huddled against the wall, staring into nothingness while mumbling inaudible words under her breath, the sight so unexpected and shocking that it made both Buffy and Willow stop dead in their tracks, both of them just standing and staring for a few moments.

"Pat?" Willow then managed to tear herself out of her stupor, cautiously approaching the demon while Buffy remained where she was, ready to jump in though, should the taller woman display any signs of aggression towards Willow, prepared to hold her back or, if necessary, even knock her out.

"Sweetie", the redhead tried again, by now close enough to her partner to lower herself into a crouch and tenderly place one hand on the taller woman's back, feeling like crying when she felt the demon tremble beneath her touch and heard how hectic her breathing had become, just another sign for how scared she was, "it's okay, you're home, you're safe… Come on, look at me…"

Now that she was close enough, she could make out what the demon was mumbling, the words she was hearing only heightening her worry and how bad she was feeling for her partner; seemingly without needing to pause for breath, Pat kept muttering pleas to be left alone to someone only she could see, not even reacting when Willow moved closer and put both arms around her.

"Nobody's going to hurt you", she whispered into the taller woman's ear, hearing how Buffy retreated to give them some privacy, "you're safe here, Sweetie, just look at me, come on… It's me, I got you out as I said I would, you'll be okay…"

Finally, to her relief, Pat reacted to her voice, slowly glancing up at her, with so much fear and pain in her good eye that it almost made the witch cry again; instead of allowing her emotions to show though, not wanting to upset the taller woman even further by crying in front of her, she moved one hand to caress her hair tenderly, closing her eyes when moments later, Pat reacted by burying her face in her chest and let out a racked sob.

"It's okay", she mumbled into the trembling woman's ear, still caressing her hair and rubbing her back soothingly, "it's okay, you're not there anymore, she's not gonna hurt you again…"

"She'll be back", the demon whispered in reply, clinging to Willow so tightly that it almost hurt, "I know she will, she never lets anyone go, she'll be back to finish it and then she'll feed on you…"

"She won't", Willow gave back, trying her best to sound confident, "I'll protect you, and Iris will come over and help. No one will feed on anyone anymore, alright?"

To her relief, Pat seemed to believe her, since she didn't try to convince her otherwise; instead, she just kept clinging to the smaller woman, slowly calming down as Willow kept caressing her hair and back, making soothing noises in an attempt to help her calm down further.

"Come on", she mumbled as soon as the shaking had stopped as well as the flow of tears, "you should get some more rest, you need to regain your strength…"

"Stay here with me", the demon almost pleaded in reply, the lost and scared tone of her voice clenching the redhead's heart up again, "please, I… I don't wanna be alone…"

"Of course", Willow reassured her at once, "I'll just tell Buffy, I'll be right back, okay?"

Nodding, Pat reluctantly let go of the smaller woman, her gaze never leaving her as she made her way to the door; there, Willow exchanged a few words with her best friend, explaining what was going on and that Iris would come by later, then gently closed the door, giving her partner a reassuring smile when she turned back to face her.

"Buffy will stay here", she then let the taller woman know, moving over to the corner again where she still sat with her back against the wall, "just to make sure we'll have an extra pair of fists, should this woman come back. So if she does, she's in for a world of hurt."

"Good", Pat mumbled, allowing it that Willow helped her to her feet and led her the few steps to the bed where she sat down heavily, "because I'm in no condition to fight. I'd even lose against Anya right now."

The tiny bit of snark the witch could hear in her partner's voice as she said the last few words relieved her more than she would have thought possible after seeing the demon in such a distraught state; smiling, Willow shook her head while she laid down next to the taller woman, prompting her to immediately snuggle up to her, her head coming to a rest on her shoulder in a curious reversion of the position they normally slept in.

Eager to give her the comfort she so obviously needed, Willow wrapped both arms around the black haired woman, then moved one hand to caress her hair again; and to her relief, her embrace and the tender touch seemed to help calming her further, since her breath slowed down not all too long afterwards, showing the witch that she had fallen asleep.

Not daring to get up though, since she didn't want to wake her up again, the redhead stayed where she was, holding her close and still caressing her hair; and after a while, she drifted off into sleep, as well, not even noticing anymore how Iris arrived and rang the door bell, the day's excitement and activities finally taking their toll on her.


	13. Chapter 13

By the time Willow woke up again, Pat was still sleeping soundly next to her, apparently not plagued by nightmares this time; hearing voices in the living room, the redhead frowned to herself, then remembered that Buffy was there and figured that someone else had come and joined her, now getting out of bed as carefully as she could, to her relief managing to do so without tearing Pat out of her slumber.

She still took the time to bend over the demon and tenderly kiss her on the forehead, then left the room as quietly as possible; and after she had closed the door behind herself and turned to face her guests, she found herself looking at Buffy and Iris, honest concern in the other witch's voice when she asked her how Pat was doing.

"Not good", she sighed, moving to sit next to the Slayer on the couch since Iris had taken her favourite armchair, "it's… I didn't even know this was possible, but it seems like she's really traumatized by what this woman did to her. So far, we all thought demons can't really be traumatized, she didn't even react that badly when she lost her eye."

"I was wondering how that had happened", Iris commented, raising an eyebrow, "but I guess we can speak of this later. And, well, about demons getting traumatized… It can happen to them just like to anyone else. Especially if they used to be human and only became a demon due to a curse."

"Why did you curse her, anyway?" Buffy asked, momentarily changing the topic from the taller woman's state to her colourful past, "she never told us, she said she can't remember what she did. Was it really bad?"

"I bet she still remembers, but didn't want to tell you because it's silly", Iris gave back, to the surprise of both Willow and Buffy blushing, "it was a really… petty reason. As I said, I was quite big with throwing the curses around for a while, but I promise I got better about that."

"So what did she do?" the redhead demanded to know, now curious despite herself; in response, Iris blushed even deeper, then mumbled out her response, forcing both Buffy and Willow to strain their ears so they could hear her, her words causing their eyes to widen.

"She seduced me", the elder witch mumbled, "and then she just kinda dropped me in the next morning."

"So, to get this straight", Buffy was the first one who regained her ability to talk, "you turned her into an immortal fire demon because she had a one night stand with you and didn't call you?"

"Kind of, yeah", Iris mumbled, having the decency to look slightly ashamed, "but hey, it's a good thing, right? If I hadn't done that, the two of you would never have met."

"Yeah, indeed", Willow had to admit, "but still, the reaction is a bit… extreme."

Clearing her throat, Iris nodded, then obviously had enough of talking about the past she shared with Pat, changing the topic back to their previous one by asking if the demon had said anything about how exactly the witch had been draining her.

"No", Willow shook her head, "and I'm not surprised she didn't, I doubt it's easy for her to talk about this. You should have seen her when I came to get her, she started to cry and told me that witch said no one would ever find her. I've only seen her cry before once, and it was after a rather… unsettling incident."

"I wish I knew more about how she works", Iris sighed, shaking her head, "I really should have kept better tabs on her, after the curse I put on her…"

"Which curse did you put on her, exactly?" Willow wanted to know, giving her another curious look, "we need to know as much as possible to defeat her. Can this curse be broken?"

"All my curses can be broken, or reversed", Iris replied, shrugging at the surprised look she received in reply, then frowning as she went on. "What? It'd be rather unfair if not, right? I never said it'd be easy. But it can be done."

"How?" Buffy now was the one to ask, slightly annoyed by how Iris made them ask for every little thing, "tell us already, who knows when she'll attack again."

"Her curse is that she can't gain nutrition from regular food", Iris explained in reply, "the way all of us do. Instead, she has to feed on the magic of any magically inclined being she can find, witches, demons… uhm, I think she even fed on a Slayer once. Anyway, she's immortal, like all the demons I made, and if she doesn't feed, she just grows old and then wastes away. Might end quite badly for her one day, because technically, she still won't die even after her body has been reduced to the mere bones."

"Might be one way to get rid of her", Buffy commented, "cause her to get stuck in her dimension, even though that would be rather cruel."

"All her former victims might disagree", Willow mumbled, once more thinking about the pits filled with body parts she had seen in that other dimension; then, with a brief closing of her eyes, she pushed those thoughts out of her mind, forcing herself to focus on the task at hand as she looked at Iris again, managing to keep her voice surprisingly steady despite the bad memories when she went on.

"So, we either can break the curse, and make her normal", she summarized, "or find another way to kill her. Does she absorb the powers of the ones she feeds on?"

"For a while", Iris replied, looking apologetic at the dismay which appeared on the faces of both Buffy and Willow, "so we'll have to deal with her tossing fireballs around. Possibly even gaining an extra, slightly furrier form. Wait, you know about that, right?"

"Of course", Willow replied with a roll of her eyes, "how could we not? I've been with her for years. But I don't like the thought of that woman possibly being able to control fire now like Pat is."

"She is", a low and hoarse voice came before Iris or Buffy had the chance to reply, prompting Willow to jump in her seat – before she turned and looked at her lover accusingly, the same emotion in her voice when she asked the demon if she was sure she should be out of bed already.

"No", the taller woman mumbled, making her way to the couch on visibly unsteady legs and sitting down after Buffy had moved a bit to let her take the seat next to her partner, "but my back hurts. And not a word about my age now."

"Just make sure you won't overdo it", Willow sighed, knowing that arguing wouldn't lead anywhere – no matter how shaken up and traumatized her partner might be, she could still sense the stubbornness which was such a big part of her personality, thus just giving in, even though she did raise a disapproving eyebrow when the black haired woman grabbed her pack of cigarettes from the table and lit one up, only to cough heavily after the first deep drag from it.

"So", she then stated as soon as she had managed to get the coughing under control, her gaze focusing on Iris and managing to, despite her weakened state, to be intense enough to make the other woman shift on her chair, "you of all people have come to help. Wouldn't thought I'd ever see you again."

"You never would have, if you hadn't changed", Iris shrugged, now sounding a bit defensive as well, "as I told your lovely girlfriend and your Slayer friend here, I would have left you to rot there, but seeing you spent the last couple of years fighting for the good side, it would have been a vile thing to do."

"Lucky me then", the demon dryly replied, prompting Willow to grasp her free hand and give her a scolding look before she let her know that, without Iris, they never would have figured out where she had been taken in time and that she never would have been able to make her way to that dimension to get her out.

"Thanks for that", Pat muttered, not sounding as if she really meant it, "but why is she still here? She's the one who cursed me!"

"We know that", Willow tried to calm her down, dismayed about how agitated her partner seemed to be about Iris being in their home, "but she's also the one who helped us find you. And she'll help us defeat this horrible woman."

"I will", Iris nodded, even though Pat still didn't look all too convinced; at least, she wasn't protesting anymore though, merely taking another drag of her cigarette and grumbling under her breath, prompting Willow to squeeze her hand tenderly once more.

"So how can we defeat her?" Buffy wanted to know, bringing the topic back to their opponent, "if she's capable of using fire the way Pat does now, she'll be really dangerous, and if you guys are right, she might come back to finish what she started…"

Immediately, she regretted those words, since the demon paled so quickly that it seemed as if someone had flicked a switch to drain all the colour from her face; and immediately, Willow was embracing her partner, rubbing her back soothingly and mumbling words neither Iris nor the Slayer could understand, both of them wondering once more what exactly this woman had done to the demon to put her in such a frightened and vulnerable state.


	14. Chapter 14

A few hours later, all of them had decided that it would be better to get some rest; since now, both Buffy and Iris would be staying over, they had to share the couch, but neither of the two women minded, both of them more focused on protecting Willow and Pat than on comfortable sleeping arrangements.

In the bedroom, the witch and the demon had gone to bed as well, even though so far, none of them had fallen asleep; yet again, Willow was holding her loved one close, caressing her hair and back reassuringly as the taller woman stared off into nothingness, caught in the memories of what had been done to her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Willow finally broke the silence, not really surprised when at once, she felt the black haired woman stiffen in her embrace; she had visited enough psychology classes at campus to know that, whatever had happened to Pat had been deeply traumatizing for her, and it was quite rare that victims of such events would willingly speak about them, especially so shortly after it had happened.

"…sorry, but no", the demon finally mumbled, "not… not yet."

"Don't be sorry", Willow mumbled to her, beginning to play with a strand of her hair, with a pang in her chest remembering that most of said hair had gone grey and probably would be for a while, the witch still remembering how long it had taken for the lesser number of grey strands the dark magic within her had caused to turn back to black.

"I understand", she went on, tightening her embrace around the demon when she felt her shiver slightly, "I can't even imagine how bad it must have been for you, if it frightened you so much…"

"I hate this", the taller woman brought in reply, in a slightly trembling voice, even though all at once, Willow wasn't sure if the tremble was caused by fear or anger, "I'm a demon, for fuck's sake, I'm supposed to deal with such things, not end up a quivering mess! Fuck!"

"Shhh", the redhead finally managed to get over her surprise about this unexpected outburst, "it's okay, Sweetie, it really is, what she did to you must have been awful, it's alright to feel this way…"

"But what if she attacks again?" the demon demanded to know in reply, with so much self-loathing in her voice that it nearly made the witch cry, "what if she comes here and all I can do is huddle in a corner and cry? I could never forgive myself if I… if I'd fail you and you'd get hurt…"

"Stop this", Willow almost pleaded in reply, tightening her embrace around the taller woman yet again, "with Buffy and Iris here, she won't get near enough to hurt me. And after all the times you protected me, I'll return the favour now and protect you for once. It'll be okay."

To her relief, her words had the desired effect, namely calming Pat down; after a few moments of silence, the black haired woman nodded against her shoulder, then let out a small sigh, the noise prompting Willow to lean down slightly so she could kiss the top of her head, her voice down to a low murmur when she spoke on.

"I love you", she let the demon know, "and we'll get through this, together. We'll defeat her, together, you'll regain your strength and everything will be fine."

"I hope so", Pat mumbled, shifting on the bed slightly; and that was when the window shattered as the bright ball of fire hit it, scorching through the room and hitting the wall, luckily fading away there without setting the whole place on fire, causing the witch to let out a small, shocked shriek while the taller woman nearly fell out of bed at her attempt to sit up so fast it made her head spin.

"It's her", she brought out, her good eye widening in fear and distress, "it's her, I can feel it…"

"Buffy!" Willow yelled in reply, relieved that by now, Pat had gotten out of bed on her own, and thus gave her the chance to stand up as well, "Iris! She's here!"

"Indeed, I am", an unexpectedly young voice commented, and from the sharp breath Willow could hear Pat suck in, she knew that, even though she looked so different, this was the woman who had done such great harm to her; momentarily, she was shocked by how youthful and healthy she looked now, compared to how she had appeared at the café – before she remembered how exactly she had gained those looks and her gaze darkened, anger filling her as her hands clenched into fists without her even fully noticing.

"Forgive me for intruding like this", the woman went on, smiling as she easily floated in through the ruined window and landed on the soft carpet, "but I won't be here for long."

"Stay away from her", Willow pressed out between grit teeth, feeling the dark magic roaring up in the back of her mind, begging to be used, to be unleashed against this creature so she'd be finished quickly and effortlessly – and feeling herself dangerously willing to do just that, to let the magic take over and let it do whatever it wanted to the now blonde witch.

"It's not her I'm here for this time", the other woman replied, and that was when all happened at once – the door to the bedroom flew open as Buffy and Iris came storming in, the blonde moved to stand in front of Willow with shocking speed, so fast that it was almost a teleport, and behind the redhead, her lover let out a sharp "No!", the sound of her voice so much back to how it had been before all of this had happened that it almost made Willow turn her head.

Before she could do so though, despite the fact that it would have been a rather unwise thing to do with the evil witch right in front of her, a malicious grin on her face, the redhead felt herself being grabbed from behind and pushed aside quite harshly, hard enough so that she ended up stumbling against Iris, who managed to catch her and keep her from falling in the last moment; and while she still was turning to look at what was happening, she heard the blonde witch say "I knew this would work", fear gripping Willow's heart as she managed to finally turn around just in time to see the dreadful events which unfolded next.

"Give me what I need", the blonde woman was breathing as her hands shot forward, grasping the collar of the pyjama Pat had put on before going to bed; the taller woman's good eye widened and she had a moment to try and break free – before the other witch jerked her closer, pressed her lips to the black haired woman's and, with a bright red glow starting to form between them, began feeding, ignoring the cries Willow was letting out and the horrid chocking noises coming from her victim.

"No!" Willow cried out as she had to watch in helpless horror how slowly, but steadily, the last few strands of her partner's hair greyed as well, then all of it started to turn white; her mind raced as she tried to figure out what to do, only too well aware of the fact that the two women were too close to each other to allow her to attack the blonde with a spell.

"She said to stay away from her", Buffy snarled next to her right in this second, already moving past her, swinging the heavy glass ashtray from the living room table, apparently the first thing closest to her weapon she had gotten her hands on; with the muscles in her arm flexing visibly, she brought it around in a hard, powerful arch, hitting the blonde on the back of the head with painful aim, hard enough to make her yelp as she let go of Pat, the demon's good eye rolling back into her head while she slumped down to the ground, ending up in a lifeless heap on the carpet.

"You shouldn't have come here", the Slayer added, bringing the ashtray around once more and whacking the woman again before she even had a chance to turn around, "and you shouldn't have gone after her in the first place. She's got friends willing to fight for her, you know."

"You talk too much", the evil witch snarled as an answer, finally having managed to turn around and thus not even noticing how Willow rushed from Iris' side and to her partner, pulling the knocked out woman into a tender embrace and holding her close, "and you won't be around to protect her forever. She's mine, whether you like it or not."

She smiled pleasantly, causing Buffy to grit her teeth in annoyance – before she moved with the same stunning speed she had displayed before, circling the Slayer and kicking her in the back with shocking strength, causing her to let out a yelp as she stumbled forward.

"Such good stuff", the blonde sighed out, sounding almost aroused and causing Willow to glare at her, "if I had known she's so tasty, I would have gone after her decades ago."

"Lana!" Iris snapped before anyone else could say something, prompting the blonde to look at her with a raised eyebrow, as if she only was noticing her now for the first time, "enough of this! Get out and leave them alone!"

"Who do you think you are, to tell me what to do", Lana snarled as an answer, her eyes briefly flashing up red, just another indicator of the magic she had taken from Pat; and as if that wasn't enough, fire burst from her fists moments later, a wicked smile forming on her face as she raised them slightly.

"Feels good", she then stated, flexing her fingers and looking at them admiringly, "now let me just find out how to—"

The spell hit her out of nowhere, hard enough to send her flying; her surprised shriek was cut short as she sailed out the already ruined window and hit the pavement two stories below, with a sickening thud which could be heard all the way up in the couple's bedroom.

"There", Iris pressed out between grit teeth, "that should teach her. Bitch."

"Nice spell", Buffy complimented, already moving over to the window and peering outside, her slight smile gone when she turned to face her friends once more.

"But not powerful enough", she added, swallowing heavily as her gaze met Willow's, the redhead still holding Pat close to herself, the taller woman lying limply in her arms, "because she's gone."


	15. Chapter 15

Author's Note: I will be attending a music festival from tomorrow until next Tuesday, during which I won't be able to update. So here's a longer chapter, and the next one will be posted next Wednesday :)

* * *

"I'm not even sure that all the sage Anya has in her shop will help with this", Willow let Buffy and Iris know half an hour later, despite her own words burning sage yet again and making sure that the smoke was reaching her girlfriend's nostrils, "she took so much from her, if you had hit her with that ashtray just a few seconds later, she might have drained and killed her…"

"But she didn't", Buffy tenderly replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to the witch and placing a reassuring hand on her arm, "and she'll be fine, right? After she… I don't know, recharged?"

"If she gets the time to do so", Willow sighed, looking at her lover in dismay, "you heard that wretched woman, she won't give up until she got all of it…"

"We won't let that happen", Iris told her, the determined sound of her voice making the witch smile slightly, "she might be hard to kill, but it's not impossible to kill her. And that's just what we'll do. She's been doing this to humans and demons long enough."

"She's only doing it because you forced her to with that curse", Buffy pointed out, saying exactly what Willow had been thinking, "so technically, we might blame you as much as her. Or even more."

"I also forced a certain need for physical violence on Pat", Iris gave back, just a hint of coldness in her voice, "but she uses that now to fight the good fight. Lana might do the same, or find other ways to feed, but instead, she kidnaps and torments people regularly."

"Playing the blame game won't lead anywhere", Willow threw in before they could discuss this any further, even though she still agreed with what Buffy had said, "we have to make sure she can't feed on Pat any more, just in case she comes back. Some protection spell perhaps…"

"It's too bad we can't fill her up with poisonous magic", Iris sighed, looking at the unconscious demon in dismay, "that would solve our problem quickly."

"We won't fill her up with any kind of magic", Willow strictly replied, giving her a warning look, "after losing so much of it, who knows what might happen if we give her too much too fast."

"Can we actually give her anything?" Buffy wanted to know, rising an eyebrow, asking herself if she ever had heard of this before; nodding, the witch cleared her throat, then glanced down the lifeless demon again as she replied, her cheeks reddening as she spoke. "Of course, it's what… what Rack was doing. When I was going there… he juiced me up, it's what made him so addicting…"

"You went to see Rack?" Iris wanted to know, sounding shocked, "I never would guessed. You seem so… balanced. Balanced people don't go to Rack."

"I wasn't back then", Willow mumbled, her gaze momentarily darkening as she thought of the times she had gone to see the magic dealer, how dirty she always had felt afterwards, but finding herself unable to stop; then, she shook her head lightly, as if to clear it, and focused on the topic at hand again, her voice back to strict as she went on. "So, anyway, we won't give her any magic. The Goddess knows I have more than enough, but I don't dare to, who knows what it might do to her…"

"Not to mention that your magic differs quite a bit from hers", Iris sighed, looking at the demon as well, "so, you're right, it's not an option. I guess we'll just have to figure out how to protect her until she managed to recharge…"

"She's protected me so often since we got together", Willow mumbled, reaching out with one hand to tenderly caress the taller woman's whitened hair, fondly remembering all the moments during which the demon had done just that, "she snapped out of insanity once, to protect me… And she lost her eye when she came to my rescue… Now it's my turn to protect her."

"And we'll help", Buffy reassured, "all of us. We won't leave her out of our sight until this has been dealt with."

"Thanks", Willow gave back, smiling slightly at her; smiling back at her, the blonde patted her arm reassuringly, then rose from her seat, giving Iris a pointed look as she stated that some more research should be done.

For a moment, the other witch looked confused and as if she wanted to protest; then, Buffy gave her another meaningful look and she got the hint, nodding a bit too enthusiastically as she vaguely gestured at the door.

"Yes", she then said, "we better do that! Come on Buffy, let's hit the books!"

Holding back the urge to roll her eyes, Buffy nodded, then the two left the room together; and the moment the door had closed behind them, Willow shook her head, a slight smile on her face when she looked at her unconscious partner and spoke up again, making sure to keep her voice low so the two outside wouldn't hear her.

"At least they made up a better excuse than they did when we just met", she mumbled, caressing the demon's hair tenderly, "remember that? They kept saying 'I forgot something' or 'I need to go and do that thing'."

She fell silent, not sure what else to say and not having an idea if Pat could actually hear her; then, she remembered how the taller woman had rested in her arms before they had been attacked yet again and figured that she might as well hold her close like that again, even though she doubted that she'd find any sleep after the excitement they just had gone through.

"You'll be okay", she mumbled as she laid down next to the knocked out woman, carefully pulling her into her arms and holding her close, "I promise. And I won't let her hurt you again… I love you."

She bent down to tenderly kiss the top of her partner's head, then just held her close, listening to her slow breathing and feeling her heart beat in her chest; and after a while, despite the attack and of how worried she was, she drifted off into sleep, slumbering through the rest of the night without anyone disturbing Pat or her again.

* * *

In the next morning, Pat was still out cold when Willow woke up, to the redhead's great dismay and concern; but even though she wanted to, she didn't try to wake the taller woman up, telling herself that she needed to regain some energies through this deep unconsciousness as she carefully moved out from underneath her, then got out of bed and made her way into the living room, finding Buffy and Iris still fast asleep there, opened books on the table in front of them, showing her that they really had been doing some research the previous night.

Shaking her head, the redhead smiled at the two sleeping figures, then made her way into the kitchen; not sure if Iris wanted tea or coffee, she decided after a moment to make coffee only, telling herself that, thanks to their electric kettle, she'd be able to heat up water pretty quickly, should the other witch want tea.

While she prepared the coffee machine, she thought of how much her partner always needed caffeine to get going in the morning, and how much of a morning grouch she always was before her first cigarette and sips of coffee; briefly, her heart clenched up as her thoughts returned to her demon unconscious in their bedroom, then she pushed those bad thoughts aside, telling herself that surely, Pat would wake up again soon.

"Morning", Buffy's voice distracted her from her ponderings as the Slayer came trotting into the kitchen, rubbing at her eyes, said eyes lighting up when she saw the already working coffee machine, "and it just got better. Thanks for the coffee. How's Pat?"

"Still out cold", Willow gave back, nodding towards the fridge in a gesture which told Buffy to just help herself to whatever she wanted, "I hope she'll wake up again soon, poor her…"

"It looked really scary when that witch fed on her", the blonde commented, peering into the fridge in search for something she could put on the bread Willow had helpfully put out already, "how her hair went white… I didn't even know it's possible to take so much so fast."

"It usually isn't", Willow let her know, turning to look at her, "it must be part of the curse Iris put on her. Or she could feed so fast because she already fed from her before, so it was easier… Maybe Iris can specify."

"Once she wakes up", Buffy replied with a roll of her eyes, finally having found something to put on her bread, "that woman sleeps like a rock, I made so much noise getting up and she didn't even stir. But she snores a lot, I kept waking up during the night because she was so loud."

"I bet I wouldn't even have heard that", the redhead smirked, "Pat snores too, normally, it took me a while to get used to it when I started spending the nights here…"

"She'll be okay", Buffy let her know in a tender voice in reply, moving over to her and placing a comforting hand on her arm, having heard the slight tremble in her best friend's voice when she had said her partner's name, "it might take a while, but you know she'll be okay."

"I know", Willow gave back after a few seconds of silence, "but… I feel so bad for her, I mean, she was so scared when that Lana person came back, and still she got over that fear to protect me… again… One day, this is gonna get her killed, but I know there is nothing I can say or do to stop her. And now look at her…"

"You're right", Buffy told her, smiling slightly, "there is nothing you can say or do to stop her. And, as heartless as this may sound, it was a good thing she pushed you outta the way, imagine if that witch had fed on you, how powerful she might be then…"

"She never planned to", the witch shook her head, "she said that she knew this would work just before she grabbed Pat and… ate."

"She must know her well then", Buffy frowned, not liking this thought at all, "or she wouldn't have known that Pat's willing to give her life to protect you."

"Maybe she kept tabs on her, too", Willow pondered out loud, frowning as well, "Iris said she did, and we never knew. How can we know this Lana person didn't do that, as well? Even though I have to say, I don't like the thought of anyone watching us and we're not having an idea about it."

"Neither do I", Buffy grumbled, "perhaps we should look into spells which might help detect us anyone watching us. Ordinarily, I'd ask Pat to use her assassin skills to do just that, but, well…"

"She's in no shape to do that", Willow finished for her at once, "after how much Lana took from her yesterday, I'll be glad if she'll be able to get up… and I better go check on her."

Nodding, Buffy focused on her breakfast again while the redhead turned and made her way through the living room, where Iris was still sleeping soundly, and into the bedroom; to her dismay and concern, she found the demon still out cold, lying on her back exactly the way she had been when Willow had left, her breathing slow and calm.

Slowly, torn between not wanting to wake her up and hoping that she'd come back around again soon, the redhead moved over to the bed and sat down on the edge; after a moment of studying her sleeping partner, she reached out with one hand and tenderly caressed her hair, her heart once more cramping up at the sight of the white strands, a feeling which was quickly forgotten though when, in reaction to her gentle touch, the taller woman's good eye opened and she looked at her, even managing a weak smile as their gazes met.

"Hey", Willow smiled, still caressing her hair, "welcome back. How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling each and every day of my age", Pat mumbled in reply, "and a few hundred years extra. But I'm glad she didn't feed on you…"

"That was quite reckless of you", the witch admonished at once, shaking her head, "you need to stop risking your life to save me, or one day, it'll end badly."

"I'd let her feed on me again a hundred times, if that meant she won't touch you", Pat replied at once, proving how true Willow's words about how there was nothing she could say or do to stop her partner from behaving recklessly for her sake had been, "no matter how… bad it feels."

"Did it hurt?", Willow wanted to know, not sure if the demon was ready yet to talk about it, but figuring that simply asking would be a good way to find out; it didn't really surprise her that the taller woman glanced away from her, then mumbled that she'd rather not speak of it, prompting the witch to grasp her hand and squeeze it tenderly.

"It's okay", she then let her know, not wanting to put any kind of pressure on her, "you can talk about it when you're ready. Or never at all, if you never want to."

Nodding, the demon gave her a thankful glance, then carefully sat up; momentarily, she felt dizzy, shocked about how weakened the attack of the other witch had left her, but not willing to just accept said weakened state, coming to her feet a few moments later.

"Are you sure you should be up already?" Willow asked concerned, taking a step closer to her so she could grab and steady her, should her legs end up giving in beneath her; this didn't happen, but still Pat put her hand on the smaller woman's shoulder after a moment for support, and by now, her lover knew her well enough to know that this was the only admission for a need of support she would get, thus wrapping her arm around her waist and earning another thankful look in reply.

"I made some coffee", Willow let her know as they left the bedroom together, passing the still slumbering Iris, "so if you're up to having some…"

"I'm always up to have coffee", Pat let her know, making her smile slightly; she wasn't sure if it was such a good idea for the demon to drink coffee in her weakened state, but on the other hand, she figured that Pat knew well enough what she could dare to eat and drink, thus not even protesting when the taller woman snatched up her cigarettes as they moved past the living room table.

"Good morning", Buffy greeted them as they entered the kitchen together, her surprise about seeing Pat out and about quite obvious, "how are you feeling, favourite demon of mine?"

"What exactly did you eat and drink while I was gone?" Willow wanted to know with a slight smile while Pat merely raised an eyebrow at being addressed this way; then, she clearly shrugged it off, since she almost fell into the nearest chair, momentarily closing her eye as she felt dizzy yet again, prompting Willow to give her a concerned, but unnoticed look.

"Are you sure you should be out of bed already?" Buffy asked what the witch had been thinking yet again, making the taller woman shrug, her gaze fixed on the pack of cigarettes as she replied, her hands shaking just enough to let the two women notice when she removed one of the smokes from the package.

"Not sure", she mumbled, briefly pausing to light up the cigarette, both Willow and Buffy noticing that she did so with an ordinary lighter and not by flaming up, as she usually did when there were no uninformed people around to see, "but I've spent more than enough time lying around the… last few days. Even though it apparently seemed longer over there than it was here."

Hearing this from the taller woman surprised both the Slayer and the witch – from what Pat had said when Willow had found her in the tower, it had been obvious that time had passed faster in that other dimension than it had in Sunnydale, but neither of them could recall mentioning this to the demon.

"How do you know?" Buffy finally was the one to ask, "that time passed faster over there, I mean?"

"Easy", the taller woman gave back, even managing a slight smile, "I saw the date on the DVD player when we walked through the living room."

Her smile widened slightly at how surprised both Buffy and Willow looked at hearing this, only to vanish again a second later as she glanced at the witch, her voice full of remorse when she went on, her words prompting the redhead to grasp her free hand yet again and squeeze it tenderly.

"I should have figured it out faster, though", Pat muttered, her eye never leaving the face of her partner, "I should have known you'd come for me as fast as possible, and I shouldn't have believed her when she told me no one would do so…"

"Don't worry about it", Willow told her at once, smiling at her reassuringly, "seeing what she was doing to you, it's no surprise you ended up believing her… It must have been awful."

The only reply she got was a slight nod, prompting her to squeeze Pat's hand yet again; then, Buffy distracted the demon by placing a cup of coffee in front of her, made with lots of sugar and a tiny splash of milk, just the way she liked it, the taller woman giving her a thankful glance as she picked the cup up and took a tentative sip, both Buffy and Willow noticing how she just stared off into the distance afterwards, but neither of them saying anything, knowing that they had to give her time to cope with what had been done with her and that she'd talk about it and recover once she was ready to do so.


	16. Chapter 16

"So", Iris said an hour later, after finally having awoken and getting rid of her morning grumpiness with a generous helping of coffee, reminding them all of how Pat usually behaved after getting up, "now that she can use fire, we need to be extra-careful when we face her. I suggest though we first come up with some sort of protection spell to put on you, Pat, so she can't feed from you anymore, and then worry about defeating her."

"I'm still fireproof", the demon let them all know in reply, "I can feel it even though right now, I can't flame up. I tried. But at least, we won't have to worry about her burning me."

"She might burn the rest of us though", Willow gave back, not liking the thought at all, "or our home, in case she has the audacity to attack us here again. I agree with Iris, we should find some protection spell first so she can't feed from you anymore… or perhaps even a reversal spell so, if she tries to, you'll get back what she took from you."

"Won't that be dangerous?" Buffy wanted to know, looking slightly worried, but giving the demon an apologetic glance, "I mean, what if you get it back too fast and lose control or something?"

"Might happen", Pat had to admit after a moment, "but just waiting until I recharge on my own doesn't sound like an all too appealing though, either, not to mention that I'll soon get sick of all the sage I have to breathe in to make it speed up at least a little bit. Perhaps if we could fight her somewhere where no one will be in danger in case I really do lose control…"

"At her home, perhaps?" Iris suggested, the way Pat immediately tensed up next to her at the thought of going back there prompting Willow to place a reassuring hand on her leg, "she'd never expect us to go there again, I'm quite sure, and even though she'd have the advantage of home ground, you can burn as much as you want there."

"Not that there is much to burn", Willow mumbled, grimacing as she thought of the empty plains she had seen first there, right after her arrival, "except for her tower, I couldn't see any buildings or anything."

"There's no way in Hell I'm going back into that tower", Pat let them all know, her voice trembling just enough to let her notice, "no matter what. No way."

"I don't think you'll have to", Iris hurriedly told her while Willow moved even closer to her on the couch so she could put one arm around her and rub her back soothingly, "once we all arrive there, she'll notice for sure and come out to get us."

"But", Buffy interjected, frowning, "didn't you say that only one of those doing the magic to open the portal can go through? No offense, but magic isn't really my strongest ability, and while Pat is magically inclined, I don't think she's in a state to do any spells."

"It had to be done that way because we were in a hurry", Iris explained in reply, "and couldn't prepare properly. Now that we have more time, I can open a more stable portal which will allow all of us to pass through."

"Good thing then", the Slayer nodded, making Iris smile briefly at her; then, she got up and moved to the bag she had brought along, looking through it and frowning to herself, but before anyone could ask her what was up, she straightened up again and looked at the small group, explaining the reason for her dismayed expression.

"I'll need some extra stuff for that portal", she let them know, "I guess the Magic Box will have it, so if it's fine with you guys, I'll go and get it."

"Should I come with you?" Buffy wanted to know, looking a bit worried, "what if she goes after you, now that she knows you are here? You did say that she holds a bit of a grudge against you."

"She can't come after me", Iris confidently replied, "what do you think I am, silly? I made sure that she can't feed on me when I put that curse on her, or coming after me would have been the first thing she would have done back then."

"Did you also make sure I can't burn the shit out of you?" Pat wanted to know, her usual snarky demeanour briefly surfacing while Willow mumbled "Language" next to her; smirking slightly, Iris nodded, then looked at Buffy again, her smirk vanishing as she spoke up again.

"You better stay here", she advised, "just in case Lana decides to strike again faster than we think right now, it won't hurt to have a capable fighter around then."

"Good point", Buffy had to admit, "good, I'll stay here then, but hurry, okay? I want to kick that bitch's ass as fast as possible."

"You're not the only one", Willow let her know, her gaze fixed on her loved one; the bruises and cuts inflicted on her by the evil witch still were an angry purple and red, the white hair only intensifying how bad they looked, rage flickering up within the redhead as she once more thought of the things her partner had gone through before she had managed to get her out.

"She's in for a world of hurt", she thus added, reaching up and tenderly caressing the taller woman's hair, the gentle gesture making both Buffy and Iris smile slightly, "for what she did to you…"

"I wish I could help", Pat sighed out in reply, giving the witch a dismayed look, "but it seems that I'm only capable of doing anything when she's threatening you. Not to mention that all I did was push you out of the way and then let her feed again, which was exactly what she wanted. Not one of my better moments."

"I told you, you shouldn't be so reckless", Willow admonished in reply, even though she knew that it wouldn't do any good anyway, "but still… thanks for doing that. I don't want to imagine what she'll be capable of if she gets some of that dark magic…"

"We'd be in real trouble then", Iris nodded, "so we better make sure that we stop her before she gets the idea to feed on you after all. Which is why I'll go to the Magic Box now, anyone else need anything from there?"

"No, but I need cigarettes", Pat commented, looking into the pack of smokes as she spoke, "so if you'd be so good…"

"Sure", Iris shrugged, taking a closer look at the package to know which brand to get, "no problem. See you guys soon then."

Nodding, Buffy told her to be careful despite her words about how Lana was unlikely to attack her; this made the other witch nod as well, and she reassured them that she'd be back soon before she left, the Slayer looking at her friends again the moment she had left the room.

"So, Willow", she then said, "about that spell protecting Pat from being fed on again? Do you think you can do that, like, now?" Just in case?"

"I'll have to look it up first", the redhead gave back, already rising from the couch, "just a minute…"

Making her way to the shelf where she kept all of her books on various spells and magic, she quickly found the one she had been looking for; hurriedly, she leafed through it, the demon and the Slayer watching her in silence, Pat lightening up another cigarette while she waited for Willow to find the spell, hoping that it would work the way it was supposed to and protect her from being fed on yet again, not sure how much more of this she would be able to take without any lasting damage or perhaps even her death.

"There", Willow distracted her from those ponderings, holding the book up proudly, "this should do the trick. It puts a kind of shield on your magic, so it can't be manipulated or transferred."

"For how long?" Pat wanted to know, sounding a bit worried, "I mean, what if this shield thingy stay there indefinitely and we can't do that spell anymore for you guys to borrow my healing?"

"I can remove it again once we dealt with Lana", Willow reassured her, smiling at her, "no worries. Even though you shouldn't even think about borrowing your healing to anyone as long as you didn't recharge."

"I know", the demon sighed, a bit calmed down by those words, "but who knows when it might be needed again, and what this Lana has up her sleeves. She's really… powerful."

Nodding, Willow gave her a concerned look, then pushed those thoughts out of her mind so she could concentrate on the spell; moving back to the couch, she sat down next to her partner again and briefly closed her eyes, then tenderly took the taller woman's face into her hands, telling her to relax and to empty her mind as much as she could, giving her a calming smile while Pat nodded as far as Willow's hold on her allowed it.

"It won't hurt", she then told her, "it just might tingle a bit. Close your eye…"

Taking in a deep breath, the demon did just that, giving her best to relax; feeling how tense she was, Willow took a few moments to tenderly caress her cheeks, then closed her eyes as well, starting the spell under her breath, glad that it was one for which she didn't need any ingredients, something which considerably sped up the process.

As she spoke, she felt more and more of her magical energy build up with every word she was saying; and when she said the last one, the power started to flow, from her to her partner, forming the shield she had intended when she had started the spell, putting up the protection she needed to make sure Lana wouldn't be able to feed on her yet again.

"There", she mumbled as soon as the flow had stopped, opening her eyes again; and moments later, she gasped, prompting Pat to give her a worried look, slight alarm in her voice when she asked what was wrong.

"Nothing's wrong", the redhead hurriedly reassured her, "but… well, it seems I gave you more than just that shield when I did the spell right now…"

With those words, she took careful hold of one of the strands of her partner's hair so she could show it to her; amazed, all Pat could do was stare at it, mimicking both Willow and Buffy as she studied the hair, then finally looked up at the witch again, a slight smile on her face when she spoke up.

"Seems your spell had a little side-effect", she then said, running both hands through the tousled strands, "not that I mind…"

"Indeed", Willow gave back, still studying her partner's hair with fascination; while she had performed the spell, clearly, it had not only put up the shield, but also had restored some of the demon's energies, her hair now not fully white anymore, but back to the grey it had been before Lana had fed on her the previous night.

"Never a dull moment with the magic", Buffy commented, smiling; smirking at her, Pat nodded, then surprised Willow by leaning in for a short, but tender kiss, something the witch hadn't expected to happen anytime soon after she had seen how exactly Lana had fed from the demon.

"Best girlfriend ever", Pat mumbled after the kiss, making the witch grin from ear to ear; happily, she snuggled up against her loved one, a content sigh escaping her when she felt the taller woman wrap both arms around her, both of them suddenly sure that, no matter how bad things were for Pat and how long it would take her to deal with all of it, things would be alright in the end.


	17. Chapter 17

An hour later, Iris came back from the Magic Box at last, armed with two bags filled with stuff and with Giles in tow; upon the surprised look she received from Willow for that, she beamed happily and let her know that Anya had given her a discount and that Giles had expressed his desire to help with the spell, the Brit earning a thankful look from the redhead at those words.

"I will stay here while the four of you go into this dimension and keep the portal open", he explained, "but just to be clear, why exactly would you want to take your partner along? No offense, Pat, but remember what toll going through the portal put on you, and in your current state…"

"…I probably won't be much help", Pat finished for him, giving Iris a grateful glance when the smaller woman handed several packs of cigarettes to her, "but I really don't like the thought of Willow going there without me."

"Which is understandable", Giles let her know, giving her a strict look afterwards, "but still rather reckless. I'd prefer it if you'd stay here with me, just so this Lana person can't feed on you again once she starts taking damage from Buffy, Willow and Iris."

"Giles is right", Willow had to realize, "I didn't like the thought of leaving you here alone, in case she might not be… home, but still around here somewhere, but if he's here, you should stay here, too…"

"And we'll make sure nothing happens to Willow", Buffy threw in before Pat had the chance to say anything, "so you won't need to worry about that."

"Seems you already decided I'll stay here anyway", the demon dryly gave back, making the blonde smile slightly, "and, for once, as surprising as this may be, I'm not in the mood to argue, I know I'm in no shape to fight, especially not her… So, fine, I'll stay here. Just be careful, alright?"

"Of course", Willow reassured her, then bent down for another tender kiss; and afterwards, they all focused on Iris as she explained what had to be done to create a much more stable portal, one which hopefully wouldn't close while they were over there hunting Lana, especially not if Giles would use his not inconsiderable experiences with magic to make sure it would stay open.

"Good", Iris smiled as soon as she had finished explaining and everything had been readied, "let's get started then, not that I mind being with you guys here, but I want to kick that bitch's ass and go back home as fast as possible. I have stuff to do."

"Cursing more people?" Pat muttered, ignoring the dark look Iris gave her in reply; next to her, Giles smirked, the demon smirking back after a moment, then both of them focused on the preparations of the three women, everything needed for the spell soon readied on the living room table.

"All set", Iris stated the obvious, "so shall we get started? Buffy, do you want to bring a weapon or something?"

"Got one already", the Slayer replied, raising the sword she had borrowed from the demon with a slight smirk; smiling as well, Iris nodded her approval, then her gaze moved to Willow and she asked her if she was ready to get started.

"Yes", the redhead gave back at once, "let's go and get rid of her, before she can drop by for another visit."

Nodding, Iris moved to sit opposite of her, grasping her hands yet again just as she had done the first time they had opened the portal together; they said the spell in perfect unison once more, then picked up their share of the crushed herbs and powders they had readied, yet again blowing on it simultaneously, the portal opening with an audible whooshing sound the second the ingredients met in the air.

"There we go", Iris smiled, pride in her voice, "let's go and kick some witch ass."

She let go of Willow's hand, this time being the first to move through the portal; Buffy was next, firmly clutching her sword, then the redhead finally stepped through as well, after giving her partner yet another reassuring look and telling her that it would be okay, the demon dismayed at just having to sit there and wait for them to come back, but giving her best not to let this show as she watched her lover step through as well.

"Well", Giles said after a few moments of silence, rising from his seat and dusting off his pants, "that went really splendidly."

"Uh-huh", Pat let out, not sure why he was pointing out the obvious like that, since usually, he didn't make a habit of doing just that; and moments later, her good eye went wide as the Watcher casually waved his hand at the portal and it vanished, a malicious smirk on his face when he looked at her, said face melting moments later and rearranging itself until not the Brit was standing in front of her anymore, but Lana, a hungry, evil glint in her eyes.

"Alone at last", she almost whispered, moving to the couch where the demon sat frozen with shock and fear, "I already thought they'd never leave. And I knew eating that shapeshifter would pay off sooner or later…"

With her smile widening, she straddled the demon, taking her face into her hands much like Willow had done not all too long ago; for a few more moments, the two just looked at each other, Pat with obvious fear and Lana with delight at inspiring such feelings in her victim – before she bent down and pressed her lips to the taller woman's, ignoring the feeble struggles she was trying to fight her off with, only to frown a few seconds later.

"What the Hell", she mumbled, pulling back and glaring at Pat, "why can't I…?" Without giving the demon a chance to answer, she bent down yet again, her lips finding her victim's once more; and again, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the tiniest bit of magic from her, a small, but triumphant smirk on Pat's face when Lana pulled back yet again.

"Surprise", the demon let her know, regaining some of her confidence now that she knew that Willow's spell had worked just perfectly, "my girl made sure I'm not available as your snackbar anymore."

For a few moments, Lana just kept staring at her – before unbelievably big anger twisted her features into an ugly grimace, her hands moving from the taller woman's face down to the collar of her button up shirt, grasping her tightly and picking her up far enough so her feet were dangling in the air as she got off of her and off the couch.

"I always finish what I started!" she yelled into the demon's face, with so much fervour that her face reddened, "how dare that… that bitch do this!"

Now that her fear of this woman was slowly receding, thanks to her inability to feed on her yet again, a million comebacks for this came to Pat's mind; before she could voice any of them though, Lana's grip on her collar tightened, her muscles flexing visibility – and then she threw her, with enough strength to make her fly through the whole living room until the wall at the other end of it stopped her harshly, a low grunt escaping her as she slumped down to the carpet, once more having to realize how weakened the repeated attacks of the evil witch had left her.

"I always finish what I started", Lana told her, now sounding much calmer as she strode across the room, grabbed the back of her shirt and hoisted her up, "and if I can't finish this by feeding on you until your lights go out, I'll just have to do it another way."

_They'll reopen the portal, just hold on until then and it'll be fine, _Pat still had time to realize – and then Lana was ramming her through the closed window head first, glass splinters flying everywhere while blood stained the carpet, Lana's crazy laughter filling the demon's ears as she was jerked back and tossed across the room yet again, fighting as hard as she could to stay conscious until her friends would come back for her.


	18. Chapter 18

"What the Hell just happened!" Iris shouted as the portal vanished just seconds after Willow had stepped through, "it wasn't supposed to close! Giles said he can handle it!"

"I'm not sure", Willow gave back, eying the spot where the portal had been moments ago with suspicion, "but I have a bad feeling about this. We need to go back…"

"What about Lana?" Iris asked, frowning slightly as she looked at the witch, "if we go back right away without fighting her, all the magic was for nothing."

"I don't think Lana is here", Buffy threw in, glancing around at the empty plains all around them, "don't ask me why, it's just a feeling I have. And I agree with Will, something's wrong, we should go back. Now."

"Trust her about this", Willow added before Iris could try to protest yet again, "it's a Slayer thing. We have to get back."

"Okay, fine", Iris gave in with a sigh, "but how? In case you didn't notice, the portal is gone, and I didn't bring any ingredients to reopen it from here, I was sure it would stay open!"

"Take my hands", Willow instructed her in reply, Buffy watching with slight nervousness how the other witch did just that, not sure what her best friend was intending, "and concentrate. If we're lucky, we can do this without any ingredients, just try to empty your mind and focus on nothing but the portal…"

Even though she didn't look all too convinced, Iris nodded, then closed her eyes and started breathing deeply in an attempt to do what Willow had said; tightening her grip on her hands slightly, the redhead focused, recalling the spell they had performed just minutes ago, the air around her crackling audibly as her energies started to build up, as she tapped into magic she had absorbed a long time ago, during a time of grief and rage and hatred.

A few feet away, Buffy gulped nervously as she had to watch how the roots of her best friend's hair were slowly blackening, her eyes darkening simultaneously; she had a few moments to ask herself what she would do, should Willow lose control and go dark instead of opening the portal, and then a strong breeze came up, the slight smirk on the witch's face showing that this was what was supposed to happen, even though said smirk unsettlingly looked like the smiles she had smiled when she had been after the one responsible for her lover's death.

"Almost there", the witch pressed out, her grip on Iris' hands tightening even further, the other witch groaning slightly as she channelled much more energy than before into the spell, having to make up for the lack of ingredients, "just a little bit more…"

She grit her teeth, simultaneously using the darkness within her and keeping it at bay, keeping it from taking control; and, finally, just when she felt that she couldn't take it anymore, that she just had to let it take over and let it wreck all the havoc it wanted to, the portal opened, and she immediately let go of Iris' hands, pushing the darkness back to where it belonged, a sigh of relief coming from Buffy when the black vanished from her hair and eyes.

"Quick", she stated, giving her best to ignore how drained she now felt, "I'm not sure how long this remains open, let's go…"

Nodding, Buffy was the first to move through, being closest to where the portal had opened; Iris followed, and again, Willow went through last, knowing that her initial feeling that something was wrong had been right the moment she arrived back in the apartment and felt the cold coming in through the open window, saw the bloodstains on the floor.

"What the Hell are you doing here!" Lana's voice reached her ears, distracting her from those observations; automatically, she looked over, and her blood froze as she saw their opponent standing at the other end of the room, next to her partner, with Pat down on all fours, positioned so that Willow couldn't see her face, but had a chance to take in the blood on her hands and clothes.

"You were supposed to be stuck there until I came for you!" Lana shrieked, "how dare you ruin this for me as well, stupid bitch!"

These words at least showed Willow that her lover had been protected from being fed on yet again, but clearly, it hadn't stopped Lana from attacking her physically; as if to prove that point, the witch pulled back her foot and kicked the demon in the stomach, hard enough to throw her over and cause her to land flat on her back, a startled small noise coming from Willow when she saw the mass of cuts and bruises marring her partner's face, neck and upper body.

"I've had enough of all of you", Lana added, bringing up her hands; and moments later, energy burst from them, flickering and shimmering, the blasts hitting Buffy and Iris with shockingly good aim and sending them halfway across the room, pained cries coming from them when they slammed against the wall – before their shouts became into noises of shock as the wallpaper came to life and wrapped around them, fixating them firmly against the wall and keeping them from moving more than a few inches.

"I'll deal with the two of you later", Lana snarled into their general direction, her gaze never leaving Willow's, "first, I'll take care of this bitch here, I'll teach you to mess up all my plans…"

She snarled, even let out a growl unsettlingly similar to those which came from Pat whenever the demon was pissed off, then threw yet another bolt of pure magical energy at the redhead; in the last second, Willow managed to get up the shield spell she had used in the coffee shop what seemed like eternities ago, a pained cry coming from her nonetheless when the magic hit, the shield flickering visibly.

"Doesn't feel so good, does it", Lana taunted, smiling, ignoring Pat for now as she took a step closer to the redhead, the demon groaning on the ground behind her, "you have no idea of my true power yet. Let's see what your girlfriend gave me…"

Her brow furrowed as she concentrated, then fire burst from her fists, a smile curling her lips again – before she slammed one fist forward and sent a ball of fire flying, the flames puffing away the moment they hit the shield, but still Willow cried out yet again, even stumbling back a few steps, momentarily feeling as if she could feel the flames on her skin, even though they never had reached her.

"Stop", Pat pressed out behind the smaller woman, only to end up being ignored as Lana took another step closer to the witch; swallowing heavily, Willow held her gaze, realizing to her immense dismay that, as long as she kept up the shield, she couldn't do any other magic to defend herself, and that the moment she'd drop said shield, Lana would attack yet again, obviously not dumb enough to let her fire a spell of her own at her.

Still, she knew that in the end, she didn't have much of a choice – already, keeping the shield up was taking its toll on her, and it would fade away on its own after one or two more hits, and leave her weakened and vulnerable; and thus, she let it drop, magic forming brightly glowing orbs around her hands the second it had vanished, but before she could let them fly, Lana's spell hit her, sending her backwards and against the wall, the back of her head connecting harshly with it and stars exploding in front of her eyes as she slumped down to the carpet, gasping in pain, feeling as if someone had hit her right in the solar plexus with a sledgehammer.

"I told you", Lana smiled cruelly, ignoring how Buffy cried out "Willow!" and Iris was yelling at her to stop, "you have no idea of my true power. But once I killed your partner over there, I'll feed from you, and then no one will be able to stop me. I know about what you carry inside…"

A living and breathing picture of arrogance, she strode over to where Willow was struggling to get to her feet, the redhead telling herself that she couldn't let this woman defeat her so easily; then, the fire hit her, and she screamed as the flames ran over her arms and back, burning her clothes and the skin and flesh beneath, her yells of pain mixing with the laughter Lana was letting out at the sight.

Still, Willow wasn't willing to give up, trying to focus through the pain, to will it away as she managed not to get on her feet, but at least to turn so that her back was to the wall and she could lean against it for support, a brief flash of magic putting out the flames still eating at her clothes; she brought up her hand with the intention to finally throw a spell at the other witch, but before she could do so, another one hit her, thankfully without fire this time, but still with enough force to knock the breath out of her lungs.

"Time to end this", Lana stated as she kept moving, finally reaching her newest victim and stopping in front of her, "and to put you to sleep. Don't worry, when you wake up again, you'll be safe and sound in my tower…"

She brought her hand up as all Willow could do was look up at her, breathing heavily, unable to keep her fear from showing through her eyes, her gaze never leaving the new spell which was forming around Lana's raised hand; her eyes narrowed as if she had to take careful aim, even though she was merely inches away from the redhead, and that was when a bloodied hand grabbed her arm and forced it upwards, the blink of an eye before she released the spell, the magic hitting the ceiling and puffing away harmlessly.

"There's no way in Hell I let you take her", Pat snarled, all her injuries and her weakened state clearly forgotten as she pulled back her free fist; obviously not having expected this turn of events at all, Lana could just stare, then the demon hammered her fist into her chest, hitting her solar plexus with painful aim, aided by the fighting experience of decades, a disbelieving huff coming from her as she stumbled back.

"This isn't possible", she managed to press out through teeth grit in pain, "how can you have the strength to do this…?"

"For her", was all the demon replied to that – before flames burst from her fists and spread up her arms, the rest of the group just capable of staring as they watched how, with a snarl, Lana tried to land a hit with an equally burning arm, the taller woman blocking it with her forearm, then her fist shot forward again and nailed her straight in the face this time, blood gushing from her nose seconds later as she had to take a few more steps back.

"No", she brought out, clearly not used to being defied this way, not after centuries of kidnapping her victims, tying them down and feeding from them until they died; the only response she got was that Pat let out a surprisingly loud growl, then tackled her, using her height and weight to her advantage and easily bringing the witch down.

"Fucking bitch", she snarled as she straddled her, "you never should have laid a finger on her…"

And then, she started punching her, over and over, straight in the face, until the blood on her knuckles wasn't just hers anymore; and while she didn't notice that tears were streaming down her face, Willow did, somehow managing to get to her feet despite her pain and burns, Iris and Buffy looking helplessly how she stumbled over to where her partner was sitting on their opponent, grasping her fist tenderly when she pulled it back yet again, the demon straining against her hold, clearly still having the need to punch the already knocked out Lana.

"Stop", the redhead said in the gentlest voice she could manage, "stop it, please, she's out cold, you defeated her, you won and she won't hurt me… Don't do this Pat, Sweetie, look at me…"

Just when she thought that Pat hadn't even heard her, the demon finally did what she had asked her to, looking at her while she stopped trying to break free from her hold; for a few more moments, the couple just looked into each other's eyes – before the taller woman broke with a racked sob and Willow pulled her into a tender embrace, holding her close and tight as she cried in her arms, neither of them noticing how the spell used against Iris and Buffy finally stopped working and they both fell down to the ground, their relief at the defeat of their opponent overshadowed by the obvious bad state it had left Pat in.


	19. Chapter 19

Author's Note: And here we go with the final update. Cause it's a day late, I made it longer ;) Next one will be started on Monday! I hope you enjoyed, feedback is highly appreciated.

* * *

"Ow", the demon grumbled a short time later, having calmed down enough to let Willow check on her wounds while Iris had bound the unconscious Lana with a spell and had carried her off with Buffy, "careful, love, that really hurt."

"Sorry", Willow mumbled, dropping the bloodied splinter she had retrieved from one of the cuts with the help of a pair of tweezers onto the hanky she had readied for just this purpose, "but you know I have to get them out, who knows how long it'll take until you can demon out and heal."

"I know", Pat gave back, squeezing her good eye shut when the witch found yet another splinter and carefully removed it, then dabbed at the small flow of blood this had caused with a dab of cotton, "but it still hurts. Ow."

"Poor you", the witch showed sympathy, giving her a brief look which carried the same emotion, "but I think now I got them all, so all that is left is to disinfect those cuts…"

"But that hurts even worse", Pat nearly whined in reply, prompting Willow to give her another apologetic look; she took the time to tenderly kiss her, making sure not to put too much pressure into the kiss due to the taller woman's busted lip though, not wanting to make her hurt even more.

"You know", she then said as she started soaking a fresh piece of cotton with iodine, "I was quite surprised and impressed when you flamed up after stopping that awful woman from blasting me into a coma. How did you do that?"

"To be honest, I'm not even sure", Pat gave back, interrupting herself with a wince when the soaked cotton ball touched the first cut, "it was just… the thought of her taking you there, with me just lying there and watching, and then doing to you what she did to me… I couldn't let that happen to you. Not to you…"

In response, all Willow did for a few moments was look at her – before she dropped the cotton ball rather carelessly, took her face into her hands, still mindful and careful about her wounds, and kissed her, much deeper and with much more passion this time, her heart soaring to the skies when she felt Pat wrap both arms around her and pull her closer as she responded to the kiss, the fact that something very similar had been done by Lana to feed on her obviously forgotten.

"I love you", the witch breathed after the kiss, leaning her forehead against the demon's, her hands still tenderly resting on her cheeks, "and I can't even find the words to tell you how much…"

"No matter how bad I was feeling and hurting", the taller woman gave back, her voice barely above a whisper, "I couldn't let her do this you… It's… Hell, I don't even know how to describe it. It felt as if… as if she's sucking out my soul. Taking what's making me who I am… not to mention that it hurt a lot. And I mean a lot. More than her kicking me around an hour ago did. And I love you too, more than anything, which is why I couldn't let this happen to you…"

"What would I do without you?" Willow almost sighed in reply, making the demon smile slightly; she shrugged, then pulled her close for another kiss, both momentarily forgetting their injuries as the kiss deepened yet again, one of the taller woman's hands coming up to entangle in her partner's long hair, a content sigh coming from the witch as she moved even closer to her, almost ending up in her lap.

"Whoa", Pat brought out breathlessly after they finally had pulled apart again, her heart hammering in her chest, "we better stop. Or I'll forget all about the need for medical attention and just ravish you right here on the couch."

"Not sure this would be a good idea", Willow had to admit, "even though I like the thought. But you're right, first things first…"

With those words, she moved back from her partner, making her sigh in dismay, then picked up a fresh cotton wad and dribbled some iodine on it; with a grimace, Pat watched, then squeezed her good eye shut as the cotton wad was moved to her face, a pained hiss coming from her when it touched yet another cut.

"Sorry", the redhead immediately apologized, "but hey, if it makes you feel better, once I'm done with you, you'll have to take care of those burns…"

"Stupid bitch", Pat grumbled in reply, "how dare she use my fire against you… That's as if I burned you myself!"

"No, she did just that", Willow protested at once, "I know you'd never do that to me. Not on purpose, anyway, the way she did."

"Never", the demon reassured her immediately, then winced yet again as another cut was cleaned; giving her another apologetic look, Willow tried to work fast, but thorough, glad when finally, she had taken care of the last one and could toss the bloodied cotton wad aside.

"Finally", Pat sighed, feeling the sting of the disinfectant in every single wound she had taken during the battle, "I thought this would never end. Now I have to take of you though…"

"I'll be fine", Willow reassured her, giving her a calming smile, "and we still have some of that burn ointment in the bathroom, so if you'll just use that, I'll be fine."

Nodding, the demon got up from her seat, with the intention to make her way to the bathroom and get the ointment; the sound of the doorbell interrupted her though, and she frowned before she made her way to the door, surprised to find herself looking down on Iris after she had opened it.

"Iris", she stated the obvious, "what are you doing here?"

"How rude", Iris shook her head, behaving just the same way herself by pushing past the demon and into the apartment, "don't tell me you're still mad at me for cursing you? Come on, if I hadn't, you'd be long dead by now!"

"True that", the taller woman gave back as they walked into the living room together, the unexpected arrival prompting Willow to raise an eyebrow, "but if I hadn't learned to control that fire and the whole going furry thing, I might as well have died long before my time!"

"That's why it is called a curse and not a blessing", Iris argued back, "oh, and hi, Willow. How are you?"

"Okay?" Willow gave back, not sure what to think of the other witch's presence here; when she had left with Buffy and the bound Lana, she had been quite sure that she'd leave Sunnydale right after finishing her business with the magic stealer, not having expected her to come back to her place at all.

"Good to hear", Iris smiled at her, ignoring the way Pat was glaring at her now, "and I promise I won't keep you from snuggling with Miss Grumpypants here for long, I just wanted to tell you that Lana has been taken care of. She won't bother you again."

"Did you kill her?" Willow wanted to know while Pat silently started fuming at the "Miss Grumpypants" comment, obviously having recharged enough of her magic to let smoke rise from her clothes; ignoring this as well, Iris shook her head, then smiled, slightly malevolent, the sight making the redhead just a tad uneasy, giving her a glimpse of the woman she had been when she had still been putting curses on people for all kinds of offenses.

"No", she then verbally declined as well, "I did something to her which will be much worse for her. I reversed the curse. If she takes magic from anyone now, she'll age rapidly, so she'll have to live out the rest of her days without feeding on anyone, until she dies of natural causes. Or until someone kills her, whatever happens first."

"Harsh", Willow mumbled, "but can't say she didn't deserve it. All these beings she killed… I can't imagine that all of them were evil, like her."

"They weren't", Iris confirmed, "so it's about time I stopped her. Don't ask me why I waited so long. Probably because the two of you are so cute together. Pat, stop smoking, it makes you look ridiculous."

"Hrmph", the demon let out in reply, managing to stop the smoke though; turning to look at her, Iris smiled, a much kinder smile this time, her voice softer and full of honest kindness as well when she spoke on.

"I know apologizing won't help about what I did to you", she told the taller woman, "and I'm sorry, I know now it wasn't right to curse you with this. To make up for it, I not only brought news of Lana's fate, but also a little present…"

"Yeah?" Pat gave back, sceptical, "what?"

In response, Iris held her gaze for a few moments – before she, to Willow's shock and dismay, stepped forward and pressed her lips to the stunned demon's, the redhead needing a few moments to realize that she wasn't, in fact, kissing her, but breathing into her, a red glow forming between them, the witch's eyes going wide when she realized what was happening.

As if to underline her realization, her partner's hair started to darken, beginning at the roots, the black and red slowly spreading; and at the same time, the demon started to growl lowly in the back of her throat, jerking back from Iris the second her hair had finished returning to its natural colour, flames bursting from her fists moments later and spreading all over her body, a drawn-out, loud growl coming from her as her good eye flashed up red.

"There", Iris smiled, "sorry about getting kinda intimate with you there for a moment, but it was the only way I could return what she took from you."

"In that case, you're forgiven", Willow was the one to answer that, since Pat still looked quite distracted by regaining her full strength, "but next time, ask before you kiss my girlfriend."

"I'm not planning to do that again anytime soon", Iris reassured her, making her smile slightly; then, she looked at the demon again, a hint of amusement in her voice as she spoke on. "And you might want to tame the flames, my fiery friend, or you'll burn down your home."

"I can control it", Pat reassured her, finally snapping out of her blissful state and looking at the smaller woman, "no worries there. But, well… Thanks."

With those words, the flames vanished, Iris just nodding slightly in reply; then, she let the two know that she would get going now and that she still had some business to do at her home, making them nod as well.

"No hard feelings?" she asked the demon as she made her way to the door, smiling when the taller woman let out an agreeing grunting noise in reply; she briefly touched her arm, her smile widening slightly, then she opened the apartment door and let herself out while Pat returned to the living room and her girlfriend, eager to take care of her wounds now that she had all of her strength back.

* * *

"Question", the demon mumbled half an hour later, now busy with carefully spreading the ointment on the burns Lana had caused her partner, and causing her to crane her neck so she could look at her questioningly, "why didn't you just let me kill that bitch when I had her down? It's not like you've never seen me kill anyone before."

"True", the redhead admitted, "but that was different. You were pissed off quite a few times then, but… you still always killed them quickly. Beating her to death like that, that just wasn't you, I couldn't let you do that… Not to mention that you still were quite… upset."

"So if I had just calmly snapped her neck you would have let me do it?" Pat wanted to know, raising an eyebrow, "if a psychologist heard that, they might worry."

"Perhaps", Willow shrugged, interrupting herself with a wince as the taller woman's fingers spread the ointment on a particularly sensitive spot, "but he doesn't know you like I do. Even when you kill, you're in control, no matter how pissed off you are, but… with her, you weren't. And I couldn't let you do that, who knows what it might have done to you, in the state she already put you in…"

"Good point", the demon had to admit, "but perhaps it would have been better if you'd let me finish her anyway. Iris reversing her curse is all well and good, but that won't stop her from coming after us with a gun or something."

"I don't think she'll do that", Willow gave back, prompting her partner to curiously raise an eyebrow at her, a signal for her to go on and elaborate.

"Just think about it", she thus said, "she's been living for centuries feeding off other magical beings, taking their powers. Now she can't do this anymore, it must be so awful, I mean, I've been forced to make do without my magic before after just a few years of using it and it was horrible. I can't imagine how it has to feel for her…"

"Just another reason to try and get revenge", Pat shrugged, frowning, "so unless I'm not following your train of thought, I don't see how this is supposed to calm me down."

"If she reacts anything like I did, she'll be pretty much broken now", Willow explained patiently, briefly gritting her teeth as fresh pain welled up in her back again even though her lover gave her best to be gentle, "she got used to taking what she wanted, from whoever she wanted, and not only did we fight back when she snatched you and stopped her, she also lost her powers. If I was her, I'd crawl into the nearest hole and never go outside again."

"Yeah, but you're not a psychotic bitch who enjoys making others miserable", Pat pointed out, "but let's hope you're right, anyway. And I can still kill her in case she does come after us, now that Iris gave back my power."

"You'd kick her ass for sure now", Willow giggled, her pain momentarily forgotten as her partner returned to the confident behaviour she had displayed before the whole situation, her fear of the power-stealing witch apparently gone for good, "and I'd gladly help, if only for her burning me using your fire."

"Just for that I should hunt her down and kick her ass from here to next Sunday", the demon grumbled, finally getting done with applying the ointment and giving Willow a chance to turn around so she could face her, "but for now, I'm honestly not up to it. If she comes after us, I'll kick her wrinkly ass, but now, I just wanna cuddle with you."

"Good plan", the redhead agreed at once, "cause I need you for cuddling right now, so I wouldn't let you go after her."

"Not planning to go anywhere", Pat reassured her, then made her giggle yet again by opening her arms wide; smiling, the witch moved into the embrace more than gladly, a small, but happy sigh escaping her as she felt the taller woman wrap her arms around her, mindful of her injuries and making sure she wouldn't hurt her on accident.

"I love you", the taller woman mumbled to her after they had made themselves comfortable on the couch, "and thanks for getting me out of there back then. I don't know what I'd do without you…"

"That's part of the girlfriend package", Willow let her know, smiling up at her; the demon took a moment to smirk back, "I'd do it again a million times. I love you too…"

They looked at each other for a few more moments, then the black haired woman finally bent down to kiss her partner tenderly; and immediately, Willow responded to the kiss, her embrace around the demon tightening as all her pain and worries of the last few days were blown out of her mind, overwhelmed by her feelings for her partner and her relief that everything was alright again.

End.


End file.
